Real bullfinches
| Real bullfinches | ||||||||||||
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Red-headed bullfinch ( P. erythrocephala ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Pyrrhula | ||||||||||||
| Brisson , 1760 |
The real bullfinches ( Pyrrhula ) are a genus from the finch family (Fringillidae).
The genus includes nine species .
features
The bullfinch's beak is thick, short, and rounded. The beak edges are curved inwards. The round nostrils lie in deep pits and are covered by feathers . The relatively short wings do not reach the center of the notched tail. The color of the plumage is striking, due to the white, gray and black areas that stand out from the rose-red, orange or ocher-colored basic color of the body. The black wing and tail feathers and the mostly white rump are also typical . The females are more inconspicuously colored than the males. Shouts and singing are inconspicuous.
Habitat and Distribution
The majority of the species live in mountain forests, but some also in mixed and coniferous forests of the lowlands.
The species are mainly found in the Palearctic , but some are found in Southeast Asia . In Central Europe only the bullfinch ( Pyrrhula pyrrhula ) occurs, the species with the largest range.
Reproduction
The nest consists of a bowl-shaped part, which is supported by a substructure made of thin branches. The eggs are white, greenish, or bluish with speckles. The pair bond can persist beyond the breeding season.
species
- Scaled-headed bullfinch ( P. nipalensis ): It is widespread in a large, but not completely occupied area in East Asia. This area includes the Himalayas and mountain deciduous forests up to 3000 meters above sea level in Burma , southeast China , Taiwan and Malaysia . The coloration is similar to that of the young birds of the other species. They are solid gray.
- White-cheeked bullfinch ( P. leucogenys ): It occurs on the Philippine islands of Luzon and Mindanao . The body plumage is brown, the innermost arm swing is red in males and yellow in females. Similar to the other species, the face mask is black, the coverts on the ears are white. The white rump is darkly demarcated.
The two species together likely form a superspecies .
- Golden-backed bullfinch ( P. aurantiaca ): It occurs in Kashmir , the north-west of the Himalayas. Its plumage is mostly orange-red on the underside and top.
- Red-headed bullfinch ( P. erythrocephala ): Its distribution area closes east, to the east of Bhutan , to that of the golden-backed bullfinch, sometimes both species live sympatric . Its back plumage is gray, the head and underside are extensive orange-red.
- Masked bullfinch ( P. erythaca ): It lives in the forests of the mountains from Bhutan to central China and Taiwan. Only the plumage on the chest and on the flanks is orange-red, the rest of the body plumage is gray. The white rump has an indistinct black band on the front edge.
These three species occur in mixed and coniferous forests in the Himalayan Mountains. You have a black face mask. The orange plumage covers less of the whole body from west to east. The three species together probably form a superspecies.
- Azores bullfinch ( P. murina ): see ibid.
- Bullfinch ( P. pyrrhula ): see ibid.
- Gray bullfinch ( P. cinercea ) and P. griseiventris : both forms are regarded as subspecies of P. pyrrhula or as separate species. They live in Central Asia and the Far East . In Ussuria they live sympatric without hybridization . The gray bullfinch lives in fir and spruce forests at an altitude of 600 to 1000 meters, P. griseiventris in Swiss stone pine and spruce forests at over 1000 meters.
These four species are a trans-Palearctic bullfinch group that together constitute a superspecies or a polytypic species.
swell
Individual evidence
- ↑ Vaurie, Amer. Mus. Novit. no.1788,1956
literature
- Urs N. Glutz von Blotzheim , Kurt M. Bauer and Einhard Bezzel: Handbook of the birds of Central Europe. Volume 14 / II: Passeriformes. Part 5). AULA-Verlag, Wiesbaden 1997, ISBN 3-89104-610-3 .
