Common Rosefinch
Carpodacus erythrinus
Medium-sized, dumpy finch with a stubby bill. Male are distinctive with a red head, breast, and rump, brown eye-mask, and white belly. The amount of red varies with age. Females and juveniles are a rather unprepossessing, uniform brown inviting confusion with female House Sparrows; note the two pale wingbars. Breeds at both low and high elevations in deciduous scrub, meadows, and marsh edges as well as clearings in forest. Far-carrying, whistled, typically 3-note song is memorable.
Identification
The common rosefinch is 13–15 cm (5.1–5.9 in) in length. It has a stout and conical bill. The mature male has brilliant rosy-carmine head, breast and rump; heavy bill; dark brown wings with two indistinct bars, and a white belly. Females and young males are dull-colored with yellowish-brown above, brighter on the rump and greyer on head; buff below.<p>Adults moult in their winter quarters, between September and November. After moulting the red of male is subdued, and becomes brighter during the winter due to wear of the feathers.<p>A rare form exists, in which the red colouring of males is replaced by yellow. The cause is environmental, rather than genetic, being affected by diet and the presence of parasites
Taxonomy
In a molecular phylogenetic study of the finch family published in 2012, Zuccon and colleagues found that the common rosefinch fell outside the core Carpodacus rosefinch clade and was a sister to the scarlet finch (at the time Haematospiza sipahi). They recommended that the common rosefinch should be moved to a new monotypic genus with the resurrected name of Erythrina. The British Ornithologists' Union accepted this proposal, but the International Ornithological Union chose instead to adopt a more inclusive Carpodacus that retained the common rosefinch in the rosefinch genus.<p>The genus name is from Ancient Greek karpos, "fruit" and dakno, "to bite", and the specific erythrinus is from Latin erythros, "red".
- Scientific name
- Carpodacus erythrinus
- Authority
- (Pallas, 1770)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Fringillidae
- Genus
- Carpodacus
Range and habitat
It has spread westward through Europe; in recent decades, it has been observed in Portugal, even breeding in England once. Common rosefinches breed from the Danube valley, Sweden, and Siberia to the Bering Sea; the Caucasus, northern Iran and Afghanistan, the western Himalayas, Tibet and China; to Japan between latitudes 25° and 68°. In winter they are found from southern Iran to south-east China, India, Burma, and Indochina. It occurs as a vagrant in Sri Lanka. <p>They are found in summer in thickets, woodland and forest edges near rivers and in winter in gardens and orchards, wetlands and locally in dry oak woods.[citation needed]
- Breeding range
- PAL : subarctic to temperate Palearctic in forest to scrub, montane in c, s: s, e Scandinavia and nw Europe (except British Is.) through n subarctic Russia to w Chukotskiy Pen. and Kamchatka (e Russia); in s through n France, Switzerland, Slovenia to Bulgaria, n Turkey and the Caucasus, n Iran, c, s Afghanistan n to the Altai and s through Himalayas to nw Yunnan, Shaanxi and w Guizhou (nc, sc China)
- Non-breeding range
- to lowland cultivation and scrub in Indian Pen., n, c se Asia to e China
- Migration
- Complete migrants
Behavior
The nest is placed low in a bush. The eggs are dark blue with coarse dark brown spots, and a typical clutch contains five eggs.[citation needed]
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Sharp-tailed Ibis
Cercibis oxycerca
A medium-sized wading bird, mostly black with a red bill and legs. Relatively long tail projection imparts a long-bodied appearance which is enhanced by its short legs. At close range, note bare red throat and orbital skin. Occurs in open wetlands and seasonally flooded savannas, usually in pairs or small groups, probing in mud, shallow water, or soft ground for invertebrates and fish. Unusual, far-carrying call is a single, horn-like note, often given in duet by pairs, with one higher-pitched than the other; the overall effect is like the braying of a donkey. Larger and longer-tailed than Bare-faced Ibis, much more vocal, and does not occur in large groups.
Drab Swiftlet
Collocalia neglecta
A very small, square-tailed dark swift with a dirty white breast, belly, and base of the undertail. An aerial species, usually seen in flocks in flight over a variety of habitats, including forest. In its limited range within the eastern Lesser Sundas, it only overlaps with one other similar species, White-nest Swiftlet. Drab Swiftlet is smaller, lacking an obvious tail notch, and has white underparts.
White-bellied Sunbird
Cinnyris talatala
A small, pale-bellied sunbird. The male has iridescent blue-green upperparts and head, with a bold white belly and broad purplish breast band. The female is very clean, gray-brown above and pale gray underneath, without any markings. Singles, pairs, and small groups occupy savanna, broadleaf woodland, and parkland, foraging for insects and nectar. The song is a canary-like warble and the call is a strained, 2-5 note “cheet-cheet….” Oustalet’s Sunbird differs by having a shorter bill and darker throat, a broader maroon breast band, a blue (not green) upper tail, and orange (not yellow) pectoral tufts.
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