Mountain bullfinch
| Mountain bullfinch | ||||||||||||
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Mountain Bullfinch ( Carpodacus rubicilloides ) |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Carpodacus rubicilloides | ||||||||||||
| Przewalski , 1876 |
The mountain bullfinch ( Carpodacus rubicilloides ), also known as alpine bullfinch or alpine carmine , is a songbird from the finch family . The rather large carmine pimp species inhabits bare high mountain regions from the Himalayas to central and northern China .
description
Appearance
The mountain bullfinch is 19 cm long and taller than a grosbeak . The horn-colored bill is strong with a fine tip. The chest looks strong, both in the seated and in the flying bird. Wings and tail appear relatively long, especially in flight. The flight is strong and undulating and is reminiscent of that of the chaffinch or a bunting .
The wing length is 102-108 mm in the male, 97-107 mm in the female. The tail length is between 84 and 92 mm.
The sexes differ significantly in the color of the plumage. The male is strong and partly dark strawberry-red on the front head, throat, chest and underside, slightly lighter on the belly and tapering into the pale pink under tail-coverts. This color is a little darker in the area in front of the eye. The red drawing is interspersed with bright feather centers, which become much larger towards the chest and especially towards the lower abdomen, so that the bird appears finely dotted on the head and clearly spotted on the chest and lower abdomen. The back of the head, neck and sides of the neck are brown or gray-brown, with a strong red tinge and dark stripes. The back is striped gray-brown and deeply dark. In the fresh plumage it can appear washed out pink. The posterior back and upper tail coverts are dark pink, with darker feather centers on the upper tail coverts. The forked joint is black-brown with lighter beige edges. The arm covers are gray-brown with pale pink hems, the large arm covers with orange or reddish tips. Alula , hand covers and wing feathers are dark brown with beige edges and light tips.
The female lacks the red parts of the male, the entire appearance shows a cool gray-brown with a slightly lighter underside. The head and back are darkened, the face is paler, the cheeks and ear covers are often a little darker. The eye shows a bright ring. The lower back is a little lighter. The underside is roughly dark dashed. Thrust and wings are black-brown, the arm covers show beige hems. The hand covers are lined with a wide beige color and form a light field on the closed wing. The youth dress does not differ from that of the female.
The mountain bullfinch is very similar to the mountain bullfinch , with which it occurs in many places. In particular, females and young birds can often not be distinguished at all. Only the light fringes on the outer tail feathers of the mountain bullfinch female can offer a distinction. The male mountain bullfinch looks lighter on the top, without dark stripes, the reddish areas look less intense and the underside is more coarsely spotted. The mountain bullfinch can also be confused with the rock bullfinch , which is slimmer, looks more gray on the top, has brown flanks and shows no bright spots.
voice
The call is a loud pink or twink and is similar to that of the chaffinch. A soft sip or a duuid duuid reminiscent of the bullfinch can also be heard. The singing is a slowly descending zi-zi-su-su-su , the first phrase can be repeated several times.
Distribution and geographic variation
The range of the mountain bullfinch stretches from the Himalayas to central and northern China. Two subspecies are described, of which lucifer is slightly larger.
- C. r. rubicilloides Przewalski , 1876 - Central Sichuan eastwards to southern and northeastern Qinghai , through Gānsù to central Inner Mongolia
- C. r. lucifer ( Meinertzhagen & A. Meinertzhagen , 1926) - Himalaya from eastern Kashmir east through Nepal to southeastern Tibet , far north of Sikkim
The species is not rare and abundant locally. She is not threatened.
Way of life
The mountain bullfinch inhabits high-lying, bare rocky slopes, scree slopes and plains above the tree line. In Nepal it is found between 3700 and 4800 m above sea level, in Tibet up to an altitude of 5150 m. It is often found in stocks of pea bushes , slopes covered with sea buckthorn and thickets. In winter you can also meet him near settlements.
The species often breeds in small colonies in willow bushes . They often socialize with other finches such as the mountain bullfinch or the juniper grouse . It feeds on seeds.
literature
- P. Clement, A. Harris, J. Davis: Finches and Sparrows. Helm Identification Guides, London 1993/1999, ISBN 0-7136-5203-9 .
- J. Martens, S. Trautmann: Carpodacus rubicilloides. in Atlas of the Distribution of Palaearctic Birds , Delivery 21, 2008, ISBN 978-3-9807089-2-0 .
Web links
- Carpodacus rubicilloides in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2009. Posted by: BirdLife International, 2009. Accessed on March 6 of 2010.
- Videos, photos and sound recordings for Carpodacus rubicilloides in the Internet Bird Collection
- Photos of Carpodacus rubicilloides in the Oriental Bird Club image database , accessed March 6, 2010