How much suitable habitat is left for the last known population of the pale-headed Brush-Finch?

The Pale-headed Brush-Finch (Atlapetes pallidiceps) is threatened with extinction due to loss of habitat. The only remnant population consists of 30-35 pairs and is confined to a single valley in the Andes of southwestern Ecuador. We investigated the habitat types used by this species in order to quantify the amount of available suitable habitat. The species used semiopen habitat types featuring a mosaic of dense scrub 2-4 m tall and grassy patches. Low continuous scrub was also used in larger proportions than on average available; forest and open country were not included in territories. Suitable habitat covered 28% of the area, and 16% was still available for new brush-finch territories. We identified a minimum of seven coherent patches that could support eight further pairs of the species. The valley can thus potentially support 40-50 pairs. The occupied habitat as described here should serve as a guideline in searching for new habitat.