Tibetan Serin
Spinus thibetanus
Bright yellow finch of foothill and montane coniferous and mixed forests. Male is greenish-yellow above and bright yellow below. Female is less yellow overall and extensively streaked all over her body; can be similar to female or juvenile greenfinches, which are less extensively streaked and have a single large bright yellow panel on the wing. Often perches at the tops of coniferous trees. Forms large flocks in the winter. Gives a variety of calls, including wheezy notes, twitters, and trills. Song is usually a combination of wheezy and trill notes.
Identification
Length (including the tail) of this species is around 12 cm (4.7 in). The Tibetan siskin lacks yellow panels on its wings in all plumages. Adult males have olive-greenish upper parts, yellow underparts, yellowish-green rumps, yellow supercilium and border behind ear-coverts. Wing and tail feathers of this bird species are broadly differentiated by a yellowish-green color. Adult females of this species have black streaking on darker greyish-green upper parts, more clearly defined wing-bars than their male counterparts, paler yellowish throats and black-flanked breasts with streaking. Juveniles are duller green, tinged brownish-buff on upper parts, with duller rumps, buff fringes to greater coverts and paler or heavily streaked underparts.
Taxonomy
The Tibetan serin was formerly placed in the genus Serinus but was assigned to the genus Spinus based on a phylogenetic analysis of mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences.<p>The first description of the species was by the British ornithologist Allan Octavian Hume in 1872 under the binomial name Chrysomitris thibetanus. In the 19th century, it was also referred to as the Sikkim siskin.At that time, the Lepcha of Sikkim referred to it as tŭk nyil nyón ('fierce wormwood').
- Scientific name
- Spinus thibetanus
- Authority
- (Hume, 1872)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Fringillidae
- Genus
- Spinus
Range and habitat
This species is found in Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, and Nepal. Its natural habitat is temperate forests. It spends the winter in the central and eastern Himalayas. A group of birders from West Bengal discovered its presence in Hee Village near Varsey Rhododendron Sanctuary, Sikkim, India in the month of March 2013. Tibetan serins generally breed in mixed forest and spend their winter in alder.
- Breeding range
- OR : s temperate sc Palearctic montane forest: se Tibet, Sichuan, n Myanmar and nw Yunnan (wc China)
- Non-breeding range
- to lower elevations, w to c Nepal
- Migration
- Vertical migration
Behavior
Migration pattern: Vertical migration.
Conservation
Population trend: stable.
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Moluccan Brush Cuckoo
Cacomantis aeruginosus
A fairly large cuckoo with uniformly dark gray upperparts, head, and throat, with deep chestnut below. Juvenile is brown and heavily barred all over. Confined to forested hills in the Moluccas. Distinguished from Brush Cuckoo by its preference for dense habitats, and by the extension of the chestnut color to the chest. Song is also faster than Brush Cuckoo’s. Piping whistles include “wit-wit-wit-wit…” uttered at relatively level pitch, and piping notes, “pip-pip-pip-pip-pip-pipPIPPIPPIPPIPIPIPPIPIPIPIP…”, getting louder and faster by the end.
Spotted Harrier
Circus assimilis
Long-legged medium-sized raptor with long narrow wings. Adult has chestnut underparts with striking white spots; immature streaked below. Flies low at slow speeds over open habitats. Often perches on fence-posts. Occurs in drier habitats than Swamp Harrier.
Cinnamon Manakin-Tyrant
Neopipo cinnamomea
A tiny easily-overlooked bird of forest understory. Plumage is mostly rufous, somewhat paler on belly, with a grayish head and a yellow crown patch that is not usually visible under field conditions. Note large-eyed appearance. Found in a variety of forest types, where it is an uncommon and poorly known resident of lower and middle levels; may be somewhat more common in areas with sandy soils. Feeds on insects and fruit taken in short sallies; sometimes found with understory mixed-species flocks. Strikingly similar to more common Ruddy-tailed Flycatcher but somewhat bulkier with distinctive large-eyed look; at close range, note blue-gray legs. Most readily detected by voice: call is a high, slurred note with a squeezed quality, given at fairly long intervals and often preceding the song, which is a distinctive, descending series of piping notes that carries surprisingly far and may be mistaken for a leaftosser at a distance.
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