Rhopospina fruticeti
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days >90%
The mourning sierra finch (Rhopospina fruticeti) is a species of bird in the family Thraupidae, the tanagers and allies. It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, and Peru and has been recorded as a vagrant to Brazil and the Falkland Islands.
The mourning sierra finch was formally described and illustrated in 1833 by the German naturalist Heinrich von Kittlitz with the binomial Fringilla fruticeti. The species was later reassigned to the genus Phrygilus. Both the genera Fringilla and Phrygilus were in the finch family Fringillidae but multiple studies published in the early 2000s showed that Phrygilus belonged in the tanager family Thraupidae. A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2014 found that Phrygilus was polyphyletic, and in the subsequent rearrangement, the mourning sierra finch was moved to the resurrected genus Rhopospina that had been introduced in 1851 by Jean Cabanis. The genus name combines the Ancient Greek rhōps meaning "bush" with spina meaning "finch". The specific epithet is from the Latin fruticetum meaning "thicket".
The mourning sierra finch has these three subspecies: Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Península Valdés | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 2 | Lauca National Park | 🇨🇱 Chile | |
| 3 | Nahuel Huapi National Park | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 4 | Torres del Paine National Park | 🇨🇱 Chile |
Very likely
About 70% of wildlife watchers report a Mourning Sierra-Finch sighting in Península Valdés on a given day, based on 564 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 8th most-seen of the 96 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
October and December
In those months about 80% of wildlife watchers report a Mourning Sierra-Finch in Península Valdés on a given day, against about 50% in May and September, the lowest months. June and July have too few records to rate.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Mourning Sierra-Finch sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Yes
Of the 4 parks where we can rate Mourning Sierra-Finch sightings, Península Valdés has the highest daily chance: about 70%. Next come Lauca National Park (Chile, about 50%) and Nahuel Huapi National Park (Argentina, about 10%).
Same family: Thraupidae
The closest relatives of the Mourning Sierra-Finch that you can see in Península Valdés (family Thraupidae, Tanagers and Allies) are Common Diuca-Finch (about 30%), Grassland Yellow-Finch (about 10%) and Carbonated Sierra-Finch (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Mourning Sierra-Finch is recorded against all the birds logged in Península Valdés (564 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
