Rufous-breasted Warbling-Finch

The rufous-breasted warbling finch is 14 to 16.5 cm (5.5 to 6.5 in) long and weighs 21 to 26 g (0.74 to 0.92 oz). The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have a slaty gray crown and nape, a wide rufous supercilium that begins on the forecrown, and an otherwise black face. Their upperparts are slaty gray with a faint brownish tone. Their wings and tail are grayish brown. Their chin is black, their belly white, and the rest of their underparts rufous. They have a brown iris and grayish pink legs. Their maxilla is dark gray; their mandible's inner half is silver and outer half dark gray. Juveniles have a plain brownish gray head and upperparts with no supercilium or black. Their wings and tail are brown. Their breast is streaked with rufous, gray, and white and their belly is whitish.

The rufous-breasted warbling finch is found in northern Peru intermittently from southern Cajamarca Department south to east-central Lima Department. In the north it is in the valley of the Marañón River and further south along the Pacific slope of the Andes. It inhabits dry montane scrublands and woodlands and the edges of Polylepis woods. In elevation it ranges between 2,500 and 3,800 m (8,200 and 12,500 ft).

The rufous-breasted warbling finch's diet has not been studied but is known to include seeds. It is thought to also feed on leaf buds and berries. It is usually seen singly but does forage in pairs and sometimes as a member of a mixed-species feeding flock.