Mongolian Finch

Pair of Mongolian Dupe ( Bucanetes mongolicus ) Coloured lithograph by John Gould, after 1850

The Mongols Gimpel ( Bucanetes mongolicus ) is a finch that inhabits deserts and semi-deserts of eastern Turkey to Central Asia. He is akin to the desert Gimpel ( Bucanetes githagineus ) and was formerly sometimes performed the same as subspecies.

Description

Appearance

The Mongols Gimpel is very similar to the desert Gimpel and how these with 11.5-13 cm length slightly smaller than a linnet. The beak is somewhat finer and less high and bright yellowish to gray- brown. The top is brown and sand ( in contrast to the desert Gimpel ) weak streaky. This coloring is made at the youth dress slightly brighter until the bottom and walks away in a smooth transition to the bright cream white of the lower abdomen and the under tail-coverts over. Slightly lighter cream are also the throat and sides of the neck. When Altvogel a more or less vigorous Pink, ranging from the face, where it covers the area above the eye and the anterior cheek, on throat, breast and flanks, where it is mixed partly with the sand-colored base color shows beyond. Hand and arm swing are dark with pale edges at the end. At the base of the primaries show distinct pink hems, the secondaries are lined with wide white at the base and form a bright field. The large coverts are lined on a dark background pink and white at the base. The white bases of secondaries and ceilings form two distinct white bands or fields in both the sitting and the flying bird. The primary coverts are dark, the middle coverts lined beige and pink. The wings drawing is usually more pronounced in males than in the females. In juvenile plumage, the wings are predominantly ocher to dark brown with lighter fringes of large and middle coverts.

Voice

Although the English Mongolian Trumpeter Finch this name suggests, the voice of the Mongols Gimpel is not marked as that of the desert Dupe by trumpeting sounds. The Flugruf is a rising " tii - wüit " which can sound sometimes monosyllabic. The song is a short, melodic verse that is repeated slowly.

Behavior

As the desert Gimpel Gimpel the Mongols often found in small groups. He shows little fear of humans.

Distribution and population

The typical Central Asian species breeds in a belt between 40-50 ° and 30-35 ° N. In the west there are already single occurrence in eastern Turkey, the closed dissemination begins in Transcaucasia and in the Alborz Mountains. It extends over large parts of Kazakhstan and the Central Asian former Soviet republics into the Western China. In the south it extends into the northern and eastern Iran, Afghanistan and the northern parts of India and Pakistan, in the north- east to south Siberia, Mongolia and northwestern China. Since the species inhabits mainly for people barely usable habitats, it is not threatened.

System

The Mongols Gimpel is related to the desert Gimpel ( Bucanetes githagineus ), but contrary to previous assumptions concerning the same no subspecies. In the area of Nakhchivan City in Azerbaijan it breeds sympatrically along with the desert Gimpel, without mixing with it.

The British ornithologist Guy M. Kirwan suggested in 2005 ( see references ) before a division of the genus and a new species Bucanetes Eremopsaltria for the Mongols Gimpel. He justified this by saying that the four " stone Gimpel " types of desert Gimpel, Mongols Gimpel are ( Bucanetes mongolicus ), White ( Rhodospiza obsoleta ) and Rotflügelgimpel ( Rhodopechys sanguinea ) who were formerly often united in the genus Rhodopechys, though related, the degree of relationship would but best represented by four monotypic genera. 2012, this view was refuted due to genetic comparison studies.

Habitat

The Mongols Gimpel populated deserts, semi-deserts and mountain ranges in Central Asia. He comes - go ahead in sandy deserts, in dry hills or in the alpine zone - such as in the Kyzyl Kum. It breeds mostly in rocky habitats, for example, at scattered rocks in the wilderness, in a dry river valleys or on clayey and stony slopes. The altitudinal distribution ranges about 400-4600 m. The Mongols Gimpel is predominantly annual bird, only from high altitudes he travels in winter.