Himalayan Beautiful Rosefinch
Carpodacus pulcherrimus
A rather dark and heavily marked rosefinch. Male is dark rosy-pink below and dark, streaky brown above with a dark pink brow. Female is brown and streaky with underparts streaking extending from the throat (where the streaks are extremely fine) to the belly (where the streaks are heavier and longer). Females also have a faint pale brow, but it is weak and not always noticeable; note the far more contrasting brow of Chinese and Himalayan White-browed Rosefinches. Inhabits montane and hilly scrub, forest edges, and village outskirts. Gives twitters and trills. The extremely similar Chinese Beautiful Rosefinch gives sharper and more metallic call notes than the Himalayan Beautiful Rosefinch.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Carpodacus pulcherrimus
- Authority
- (Moore, F, 1856)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Fringillidae
- Genus
- Carpodacus
Range and habitat
- Breeding range
- OR, PAL : sc, ec Palearctic in Himalayas, Tibetan and Mongolian plateaus, in montane scrub and forest edge: Himachal Pradesh (nw India) and sw, s, se Tibet n through Mongolia and Sichuan, in s to w Arunachal Pradesh and nw Yunnan (wc China)
- Non-breeding range
- to lower elevations
- Migration
- Vertical migration
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Bird Calls
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