High in the cool, windswept mountains of Central America, this charcoal-and-silver wanderer flickers through stunted shrubs and páramo grass. It feeds on seeds, berries, and small insects, moving in tight, lively groups across misty ridgelines. What makes it extraordinary is its bright signal of gold — vivid yellow thighs flashing in flight against cloud-draped slopes. Living where air thins and weather shifts without warning, it helps disperse hardy alpine plants across fragile highland ecosystems. A spark of yellow in the mountain hush, yet a resilient keeper of the heights.
Yellow-thighed Finch 👇
