Sinai Rosefinch
Carpodacus synoicus
A small and long-tailed, small-billed finch. Virtually unstreaked. Male has a pink face and breast with a whitish forehead and crown. Female is pale gray-brown overall with a whitish belly. Lives in deep desert canyons. Resident or locally nomadic. Often flies long distances to water sources. Its rarely-heard song is a quick series of 6–7 metallic “Tzi-tzi-tzi-tzi-tzi-tzi” notes. Flight call a metallic “Tziup.”
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Carpodacus synoicus
- Authority
- (Temminck, 1825)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Fringillidae
- Genus
- Carpodacus
Range and habitat
- Breeding range
- PAL : sc Palearctic in barren rocky montane n, ne Red Sea coasts: s, e Sinai Pen. (ne Egypt), se Israel, sw Jordan and far nw Saudi Arabia
- Non-breeding range
- to lower elevations, short-distance southward
- Migration
- Resident species
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Black-crested Warbler
Myiothlypis nigrocristata
Small yellow warbler found in the understory of Andean forest and scrub from around 2,500-3,500m. Olive above and brighter yellow below, with bright yellow eyebrow and black crown. Sexes similar. Compare with Citrine Warbler, which does not show a black crown. Fairly common. Pairs forage low, often among mixed-species flocks, where they can be difficult to spot among the dense scrub and bamboo. Frequently detected by accelerating series of musical chips.
Ashy-headed Greenlet
Hylophilus pectoralis
Small vireo-like bird found in variety of lightly wooded habitats from forest edges and scrub to gardens where it can be quite common; often accompanies mixed-species flocks. It has a distinctive gray head and is olive-green above with a yellow breast and an off-white belly. The song is a fast and prolonged trill, “pweeeer-pweeer-pweeer-prrre-e-e-e-e.”
Principe Seedeater
Crithagra rufobrunnea
An incredibly dowdy small seedeater with a pink-horn bill and a pale throat. On São Tomé its color is gray-brown and on Príncipe more buffy-cinnamon. On São Tomé it is a common resident in most habitats from primary forest to suburban gardens up to 1500 meters of elevation; on Príncipe it is uncommon and more restricted to forest. Song is variable, but mostly a strident, rapidly delivered series of high-pitched notes “tseet-teet-teet-teet-tseeu-tseeu-tseeu” or similar; call is a slurred “tshweet.” The much larger Sao Tome Grosbeak is chestnut in color and rare in remote forest on São Tomé; Yellow-fronted Canary is much brighter.
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