Author: BrantaMedia.Com

Named for the Bolivian city adjacent to the mountain slopes that comprise its stronghold, the rare and beautiful Cochabamba Mountain Finch is actually more closely related to a tanager than to a finch. This sparrow-sized bird is a member of the Poospiza genus (warbling finches/mountain finches) and is distinguished by its distinct plumage and highly limited range around the city of Cochabamba in Bolivia.

Many geographically restricted species throughout South America are named after “their” places in this way. Colombia’s Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, an isolated mountain range along

A common, confiding, and conspicuous member of the tanager family, the bright blue Masked Flowerpiercer is a familiar sight to birders throughout the Andes. This bird is named for its feeding habits, which are made possible by its highly specialized bill.

Like other flowerpiercers, the Masked Flowerpiercer has a slightly upturned bill with a hooked upper mandible and a shorter, sharp lower mandible used to pierce the base of flowers to access the nectar inside. Its genus name, Diglossa, derives from the Greek word for “double-tongued” and refers to this