Fire-fronted Serin
Serinus pusillus
Sprightly and vividly-colored little finch with a black head and a fiery orange patch on the forehead. Sexes are similar, though female tends to have a smaller forehead patch than the male. Juvenile is warm brown with black spotting on the back and wings; beware of confusion with rosefinches and greenfinches, the former of which lacks yellow in the tail and the latter of which has streaked underparts. Inhabits open forests, scrubland, and meadows in montane areas. Often ventures into towns and villages. Calls include quiet fluty notes and twitters; song is a jumble of trills interspersed with random call notes.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Serinus pusillus
- Authority
- (Pallas, 1811)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Fringillidae
- Genus
- Serinus
Range and habitat
- Breeding range
- PAL : sc temperate Palearctic in montane forest edge and alpine scrub: Turkey and Caucasus through n Iran and s Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and se Kazakhstan to nw Xinjiang (nw China) and sw Mongolia; in s to sc Iran, n Baluchistan (nc Pakistan) and w Himalayas to sw Tibet and wc Nepal
- Non-breeding range
- altitudinal and short-distance movements to scrub and settlements, in s to Israel
- Migration
- Vertical migration
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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Waterfall Swift
Hydrochous gigas
Largish dark swift with a stumpy body and a forked tail. As the name would suggest, associated with mountain waterfalls in forest areas; nests are placed close to the spray. Uniformly brown; larger and more long-winged than swiftlets. Sometimes forages in mixed flocks with other swifts, such as needletails.
Brown Tinamou
Crypturellus obsoletus
A rusty-colored tinamou with a grayish head and darker brown back. The vent is barred, but can be hard to see. Frequents humid forest (including second growth forests) with a dense understory, where it is shy and hard to see. The song is a long series of loud ascending whistles; the pauses between them can be long or short.
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