European siskin
| European siskin | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Male Black Siskin ( Acanthis flammea flammea ) |
||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Acanthis flammea | ||||||||||||
| ( Linnaeus , 1758) |
The black siskin ( Acanthis flammea , syn .: Carduelis flammea ), formerly also called linseed finch , is a songbird from the goldfinch subfamily in the finch family (Fringillidae). It is a circumpolar widespread breeding bird of the temperate and subpolar zones. Many authors see the subspecies A. f. cabaret currently (2018) as a separate species, the Alpine siskin ( Acanthis cabaret ).
description
The siskin is about 12 to 14 cm long and has a wingspan of 13 to 17 cm. The weight is about 13 to 16 grams. The top is striped gray-brown, its belly colored white. The little bird has a crimson front parting and an indistinct white stripe above the eyes. Females and young birds do not have pink breasts like the male. His hard flight call sounds like "chett-chett-chett".
habitat
The European siskin is mainly at home in Iceland , Scandinavia , Ireland , Scotland and the Alpine region. In winter, siskins also come from the north and spend the time in Central and Eastern Europe . There are also siskins in the Near and Middle East as well as in North and East Asia and in northern North America .
The European siskin lives in birch , larch , alder , conifer forests, parks and gardens. There it climbs skillfully in the crown area and feeds on small seeds and small insects .
The European population is estimated at around 2 million breeding pairs. There are around 8,500 to 14,000 breeding pairs in Germany. The population has increased significantly compared to the 1980s, it seems to have remained the same since 2000. Contrary to earlier assumptions, the species is therefore not endangered in Germany. The world population is estimated at almost 100 million animals. Therefore, the species is classified as safe by the IUCN .
Reproduction
The sexual maturity occurs after one year. The nest , made of moss , twigs, stalks and feathers, is mostly attached to the forks of trees or in bushes. The female lays 4 to 5 eggs . The eggs are warmed by the female for 10 to 12 days during the main breeding season from May to July. During the breeding season, the female is provided with food by the male. The young birds fledge after about 2 weeks.
Taiga siskin eggs ( Acanthis flammea flammea )
Alpine siskin eggs ( Acanthis flammea cabaret )
Systematics
Internal system
Traditionally, there are three to four subspecies of the Siskin. These are usually divided into two groups, the taiga and the alpine siskin. As mentioned earlier, many authors treat these as two different types.
-
Taiga siskin
- Af flammea - breeds in Northern Europe, Siberia, Alaska and Canada
- Af rostrata - breeds in Greenland and northeast Canada
- Af islandica - breeds in Iceland (considered by some authors to be a variation of Af rostrata )
-
Alpine siskin
- Af cabaret - breeds in the Alps, Great Britain and, more recently, southern Scandinavia (sympatric there with Af flammea ). Since the 1950s, it has also spread from the Alpine region into northern and eastern Central Europe to Germany, Poland, Slovakia and northern Romania.
The taiga siskin are i. General somewhat larger and lighter in color, correspondingly, Alpine siskins are often smaller and have more brownish plumage.
External system
Regardless of whether the siskins discussed here are viewed as one or two species, the closest related species to the siskin is the polar siskin ( Acanthis hornemanni ) - the only other species in the genus Acanthis . All species of the genus are genetically closely related and can hardly be separated from a molecular genetic point of view.
Traditionally, all species of the current genus Acanthis were classified in the formerly very species-rich genus Carduelis . A molecular genetic study of finch birds published in 2012 by D. Zuccon et al. has broken down the relationships within the goldfinches in detail and has shown that the sister taxon of the genus Acanthis is the genus of the crossbills ( Loxia ).
supporting documents
literature
- Richard Sale: A Complete Guide to Arctic Wildlife , published by Christopher Helm, London 2006, ISBN 0-7136-7039-8
Web links
- Videos, photos and sound recordings of Acanthis flammea in the Internet Bird Collection
- Entry at the Swiss Ornithological Institute
- Information page about the European Siskin
- Feathers of the taiga siskin
- Acanthis flammea inthe IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2017.3. Posted by: BirdLife International, 2016. Retrieved February 2, 2018.
Single receipts
- ↑ Halls, p. 335
- ^ List of bird names in the IOU IOC World Bird List
- ↑ Siskin in the information system birds in Germany online of the umbrella association of German avifaunists , accessed on July 22, 2016.
- ↑ Seutin, G .; Ratcliffe, LM & Boag, PT (1995) Mitochondrial DNA homogeneity in the phenotypically diverse redpoll finch complex (Aves: Carduelinae: Carduelis flammea - hornemanni ). Evolution 49 (5): 962-973. doi: 10.2307 / 2410418
- ↑ D. Zuccon, R. Prŷs-Jones, P. Rasmussen and P. Ericson: The phylogenetic relationships and generis Limits of finches (Fringillidae) . In: Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution . tape 62 , no. 2 , February 2012, p. 581-596 , doi : 10.1016 / j.ympev.2011.10.002 ( nrm.se [PDF]).