Orange-fronted Yellow Finch (Sicalis columbiana)
Illustration redrawn by AI from a real photograph

Orange-fronted Yellow Finch

Sicalis columbiana Cabanis, 1851

≈12 cmLength13 gWeight

The male has a conspicuous orange forehead and resembles a smaller Saffron Finch.

Busiest months: January · Most records: Venezuela, Colombia, Brazil

Looks like Saffron Finch

Least Concern

How to identify

Field marks

  1. Male has a strongly contrasting orange forehead
  2. Male has darkish lores
  3. Female is olive-gray with whitish underparts and yellow on the wings and tail

Male, female and young

Male has an orange forehead and dark lores; female is olive-gray overall, with whitish underparts and yellow on the wings and tail.

Similar species

Saffron Finch
Saffron Finch

Males are very similar, but Orange-fronted Yellow Finch is smaller, with a more strongly contrasting orange forehead and darkish lores.

Where and when it's recorded

Orange-fronted Yellow Finch has been recorded at 24 of the 8,171 birding hotspots we track, in 3 countries and regions.

Records by month Northern Hemisphere

Where it's recorded most

  1. Hato El CedralVenezuela281 records
  2. Hato La Aurora – Ecolodge Juan SolitoColombia255 records
  3. RPPN Canguçu e entornoBrazil114 records
More places
  1. Pompéu – apenas listas históricasBrazil26 records
  2. Rio Inírida – MatracaColombia20 records
  3. PN CauraVenezuela14 records
  4. Hato Masaguaral (propiedad privada) – alrededores de casa principal y oficinasVenezuela12 records
  5. Hato PiñeroVenezuela10 records
  6. Universidad de Los LlanosColombia9 records
  7. Comunidad SabanitasColombia6 records

Countries and regions with the most records

VenezuelaColombiaBrazil

eBird records via GBIF up to 2024-12-31. A record means someone listed it; more records partly mean more birders, not more birds.

About

The orange-fronted yellow finch (Sicalis columbiana) is a species of South American bird in the family Thraupidae. It has a highly disjunct distribution with S. c. columbiana found in Colombia and Venezuela, S. c. goeldii along the Amazon River in Brazil, and S. c. goeldii in east-central Brazil. It is found in semi-open areas, typically near water and sometimes near humans.

Excerpt from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · authors · Read more on Wikipedia

Questions

How big is the Orange-fronted Yellow Finch?

The Orange-fronted Yellow Finch is about ≈12 cm long and weighs around 13 g.

Where does the Orange-fronted Yellow Finch live?

Its breeding range: South America: northern, eastern, central. It is most often recorded in Venezuela, Colombia and Brazil.

When is the best time to see the Orange-fronted Yellow Finch?

At the hotspots we track, it is recorded most in January (Northern Hemisphere).

Is the Orange-fronted Yellow Finch endangered?

The IUCN Red List classifies the Orange-fronted Yellow Finch as Least Concern.

What does the Orange-fronted Yellow Finch eat?

Main food: Seeds.

What family is the Orange-fronted Yellow Finch in?

It belongs to the family Tanagers & Allies (Thraupidae), order Passerines (Passeriformes).

At a glance

Length
≈12 cm
Weight
13 g
Habitat
Shrubland
Diet
Seeds
Lifestyle
Active on the ground
Migration
Resident (barely migrates)
Conservation
Least Concern
More measurements
Wing
58 mm
Tail
38 mm
Bill
13 mm
Tarsus
16 mm

Averages from the AVONET dataset; length from field guides where available.

Range

South America: northern, eastern, central

Breeding range, IOC World Bird List 15.2

Classification

Order
Passerines Passeriformes
Family
Tanagers & Allies Thraupidae
Genus
Sicalis

Other birds in the genus Sicalis

Stripe-tailed Yellow FinchStripe-tailed Yellow FinchSicalis citrinaSulphur-throated FinchSulphur-throated FinchSicalis taczanowskiiBright-rumped Yellow FinchBright-rumped Yellow FinchSicalis uropygialisSaffron FinchSaffron FinchSicalis flaveolaGrassland Yellow FinchGrassland Yellow FinchSicalis luteolaCitron-headed Yellow FinchCitron-headed Yellow FinchSicalis luteocephalaPatagonian Yellow FinchPatagonian Yellow FinchSicalis lebruniGreenish Yellow FinchGreenish Yellow FinchSicalis olivascensMonte Yellow FinchMonte Yellow FinchSicalis mendozaeGreater Yellow FinchGreater Yellow FinchSicalis auriventrisRaimondi's Yellow FinchRaimondi's Yellow FinchSicalis raimondiiPuna Yellow FinchPuna Yellow FinchSicalis lutea
Orange-fronted Yellow Finch

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Free to use with credit: “Illustration: Bird Album (birdalbum.com)”. Drawn by AI from a reference photo by R.E.Llanos. ↗

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