Plain Mountain Finch
Leucosticte nemoricola
A fittingly-named brown finch of highland mountain passes, meadows, and rural villages. Drab brown overall with some contrasting brown, black, and white streaking on the back. Pale gray-brown head distinguishes it from Black-headed Mountain-Finch. During the nonbreeding months gathers in immense swirling flocks of up to several hundred birds.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Leucosticte nemoricola
- Authority
- (Hodgson, 1836)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Fringillidae
- Genus
- Leucosticte
Range and habitat
- Breeding range
- OR : c, sc Palearctic from Tienshan to Altai and Himalayas in alpine meadows and subalpine scrub: e Kazakhstan ne to Altay and Tuva regions (sc Russia), w, nw Xinjiang (nw China) and w Mongolia; in s through ne Afghanistan, e in Karakorum, s, c, e Tibet and Inner Himalayas to far n Myanmar and nw Yunnan, ne to n Qinghai, Gansu and s Shaanxi (nc China)
- Non-breeding range
- to lower elevations
- Migration
- Complete migrants
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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Galah
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Babbling Starling
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