Trumpeter Finch

A desert Gimpel the Canarian subspecies ( Bucanetes githagineus amantum )

The Desert Finch ( Bucanetes githagineus ) or desert trumpet player, is a finch, the deserts and semi-deserts south of the Mediterranean and inhabited in the Middle East. The sometimes quite dissected deposits ranges from the Canary Islands to northern Pakistan. In southern Spain there for several decades a small breeding population, and east of the Mediterranean seems to be the type to spread northward.

The Desert Finch is characterized by a very distinctive call, a nasal trumpets, from which also the common name derives desert trumpet.

• 5.1 Geographical variation
• 5.2 External systematics

Description

Appearance

The Desert Finch is slightly smaller than a linnet, in the proportions it resembles by the powerful head and neck but rather a green compact.

The beak is short and strong as in the Bullfinch. The upper mandible shows a steeply curved sloping ridge, the lower mandible a pronounced Gonys angle, because the bottom edge very straight runs underneath the rounded front part parallel to the top edge. In the male the beak in breeding plumage is bright orange to dark red. In the female and also the male in plumage, the beak is rather pale orange to horn color. The beak of this year's young birds is yellowish brown. The dark eye stands out due to an implied bright ring.

The body plumage is predominantly sand color and without conspicuous drawings, in which the spectrum of shades from almost gray parts ranges to the sides of the head very warm, almost caramel areas on the neck and chest area through to dark ocher to almost black gray large feathers on wings and tail. In breeding plumage, the plumage of the male acts by reddish colored tips of the small feathers on the front of the head, chest and back and the deck feathers of the wings partially intense pink tinge. This coloring is also especially at the tail outer sides and rump.

The tail is forked and quite short, among other things affect the wings while sitting bird quite long, in flight, however, rather short and blunt. The legs are light brown horn-colored orange-red to.

Within Europe, the desert Gimpel is unmistakable, and elsewhere can be confused (see scheme ) with other " stone Gimpel " species, such as in Turkey with the Mongols Gimpel.

Voice

The voice is the most significant and in many languages ​​the eponymous feature of this kind you are distinguished primarily by squeaky - nasal sounds. The expression of these sounds ranging from a rather voiceless, long-drawn Quetschlaut to tones that sound as if they were produced with a pitch pipe or a Kindertröte. In the latter, vocalizations, which are typical and conspicuous, usually resonate with several main frequencies, so that the impression of polyphony arises.

The song is introduced by silent kieksenden and purring sounds, usually of an elongated trumpets. Sometimes this is also part of a more complex stanza. But there are also another form of singing, a bunting similar stereotypical melodic trill, which is usually repeated and which is described as " ch - ch - dwii dwii tschäarr ".

The repertoire of calls is varied. It includes not only a high " zik " a whole range of different nasal sounds of metallic buzzing until expression and a sparrow -like chirp in young birds.

Behavior

The Desert Finch is diurnal and primarily seeks its food on the ground. He is quite sociable, so you can see outside the breeding season often groups of 10-20 individuals in search of food. He keeps it on too much in settlement nearby.

At the bottom of the bird is due to its coloration usually quite inconspicuous. He moves away, hopping, walking or running, in between he directed at right angles to get a glance. This upright posture, it also shows when he assures of stones, rocks or walls. In bushes or trees, he is almost never to be found, only on herbs, he settled in search of food, they are to sometimes bent over to get at the seeds.

Change of location at the bottom done in low flight during squads often with simultaneous departure. When disturbances are usually greater distances to be overcome in a higher flight, this is arcuate as in most species of finches. Here it is noticeable that he, unlike other species of finches often relies on his cover and pressed to the ground, while other species, such as cross-species troops, departing.

The Desert Finch searches for drinking throughout the day, especially in the morning and evening hours, repeatedly waterholes on. These can be several kilometers away from the usual residence. To get water, he also flies in rock holes or well shafts.

Crews often spend the night at communal roosting sites, which are visited just before sunset. Even at lunchtime is often rested. In strong sunlight Search crews at the shadow, for example on buildings or cliffs. This very large Socialization can sometimes be observed, for example in Tripolitania between 300 and 500 copies, huddled in the shade of an overhanging rock wall. Even in winter there are larger accumulations, this focus usually in places with rich food or water supply, such as cereal boxes, oases or busy transport routes of grain trucks and the like. Usually the swarm sizes are between 50 and 200 individuals, but it swarms with up to 1700 or in some cases the beginning of the 20th century have also been observed several 1000 copies. The socialization with other species shall be obtained just happens.

Dissemination

The Desert Gimpel colonized stony and rocky deserts and semi-deserts in the southwest of the Palearctic. He shuns the pure sand desert areas and preferred hill and mountain country. These habitat requirements resulted in a highly compartmentalized distribution area, which has large gaps especially in the Libyan desert.

It extends from the eastern Canary Islands (La Gomera was first settled in the 1980s ) to the edge of the Indus plain in the north of Pakistan. On the southern edge of the Sahara, it is sufficient to in the Aïr massifs, Tibesti and Ahaggar. In the north, the spread is sufficient here to the North African coast and the mountains east of Gibraltar as far away as southern Spain. Other deposits are found in continental Europe, in Turkey, Azerbaijan and Armenia.

A large deposit on the Red Sea extends into the Sudan until about the 20th degree of north latitude, island -like appearance also comes further south before. The closed area extends north to the edge of the Egyptian desert and rocky stretches along the eastern Mediterranean to the southern Turkey.

On the Arabian Peninsula, the southern limit of distribution is also at least at 20 ° North, and possibly more southern regions are populated. As of present there almost only winter observations, a breeding distribution is uncertain. Even in the eastern part of the distribution is known only patchy, here especially the Iranian highlands are populated to southern Turkmenia and Chitral.

Hiking

The Desert Finch is a stand- stroke or bird that wintered mostly when there is sufficient access to drinking water in the breeding areas. He tends to be irregular and spontaneously occurring dispersions. Persistent drought or cold weather in higher areas sometimes lead to sudden abandonment of breeding areas, the relocation of entire populations or to nomadic wandering. Especially pronounced the tendency is after the breeding season. However, some use can also speak of solid wintering grounds of certain populations. Residents of the southern Spanish inland wintering eg with great regularity at the local coastline, the. Ostägyptischen the desert areas in cereal-growing areas of the Nile Valley and the Negev in the Wadi Arava

In the context of the spread trends in south-west Europe there was also becoming more common to evidence in more northern parts of Europe, individual observations are even from Scandinavia or the British Isles before.

Stock development

Since the late 1960s, it came in the southwestern Mediterranean repeatedly settlements north of the former distribution limit, as in Morocco and Tunisia. In Malta, the Pelagie islands and Pantelleria, Sicily accumulated since that time the evidence. This was the case where initially larger groups of up to 60 copies found and finally first breeding evidence has been provided also in southern Spain, Cadiz, Gibraltar and Almeria. In the forest completely free and semi- arid zones around Almeria, which are among the driest areas in Europe, could be until the 1990s increasing, establish a fairly stable population. To the east, the desert Gimpel spread at this time from up in the Sierras near the coast of the province of Murcia. Other settlements in the surrounding regions remained only a short time ago. Since the species tends generally to nomadic behavior and spontaneous propagation, another area expansion, as in the 1970s and 1980s is not excluded in the Canary Islands and in Israel as part of the agricultural development of desert areas.

The Canarian stock seems after a decline in the 1990s to be with 10,000-20,000 breeding pairs (1997-2003 ) is quite stable, the Spanish population in 1992 estimated at 300-500 bp and apparently fluctuates slightly. Other European stocks are valued in Turkey to 200 to 800, in Armenia to 50 to 100 and in Azerbaijan on 10 to 100 breeding pairs. The positions at the northern edge of the Sahara seem to be sometimes exposed to the weather.

Among the non-European occurrence, whose exact distribution part is even more unclear are no inventory data. The global population is estimated by the IUCN to about 21000-43000 copies and classified as not at risk.

System

Geographical variation

Overall, from east to west a slight change of plumage color, towards more pink and darker head and back lots, determine. There are four subspecies, but only slightly different:

• B. g amantum ( Hartert, 1903) - Canary Islands
• B. g zedlitzi ( Blyth, 1847) - Sahara, Mauritania and southern Morocco to Tunisia
• B. g githagineus (Lichtenstein, 1823) - Egypt and Sudan

External system

The systematics of the four " stone Gimpel " types of desert Gimpel ( githagineus, or githaginea ), Mongols Gimpel ( mongolicus ), white and Rotflügelgimpel ( obsoleta and sanguinea ) is controversial. Some writers, eg Sibley & Monroe ( 1990), uniting all species in the genus Rhodopechys, an association also proposed in the genus Bucanetes would violate the principle of priority. In contrast, other authors consider a subdivision in the genera Bucanetes ( Desert and Mongols Gimpel ), Rhodopechys ( Rotflügelgimpel ) and Rhodospiza ( White-winged Finch ) ago.

The classification of the four species in the genus Rhodopechys would the British Ornithologists Guy M. Kirwan 's view (2005, see references ) to dodge the clarification of taxonomic relationships in a convenient way and the ratio of each species to each other or to other taxa such as the genus Carpodacus or the Burton Gimpel ( Callacanthis burtoni ) are not fair. Kirwan proposes an accurate molecular genetic analysis and expects this splitting of the genus Bucanetes. In this case, he introduces a new genus Eremopsaltria for the Mongols Gimpel.

At least two genetic studies, it has since been given. The first of 2006 speaks of the White-winged Finch from a close relationship with the other Rhodopechys species and identifies him or an extinct sister species as an ancestor of the genus Carduelis. The second of 2008 confirmed a close relationship of desert and Mongols Gimpel and makes it next to the Rose belly Rosy Finch ( Leucosticte arctoa ) and the Slender-billed Finch (Carpodacus nipalensis ) in a group of related species that inhabit arid habitats in different climates. A membership of Rotflügelgimpels to this group is not excluded.

For the desert Gimpel so available depending on the systematic classification of the synonyms Bucanetes githagineus, Rhodopechys githaginea or Rhodopechys githagineus in space. The IUCN and the following Avibase database and the results of the aforementioned studies involving, in this case the Desert Finch is listed as Bucanetes githagineus.

Habitat

The Desert Gimpel inhabited particularly low rainfall, dry habitats, which consist primarily of rock and scree and possibly have a barren steppe vegetation. This can be hard and rocky deserts or dry river valleys, canyons, erosion valleys and rocky slopes. It must be within reach suitable water bodies, they can also be slightly brackish. Outside the breeding season, the desert Gimpel keeps on like in Proximity and arable land uses as food source.

Population density

Since the nature as well as no territorial behavior and often nest in small clusters, nests can be very close together. In some cases, the distance is only half a meter. Large-area, the population density is usually rather low, were found on 500 square kilometers in Israel 2200-2500 breeding pairs, which correspond approximately to a density of 0.05 Bp./10 ha, included species-specific collections with higher population density, this is probably partly also far below.

Food

The Desert Finch feeds mainly on seeds or other plant parts. This mainly typical of its habitat pioneer plants, especially pigweed and buckwheat family, cruciferous vegetables, certain Salvia species or grasses appear to play a role, preferences are not apparent. This can partly be rather one-sided, the food supply by the local conditions. In wintering areas such as the Nile Valley crops may be a large part of the diet such as wheat or millet. Animal food is apparently of little importance.

Reproduction

The Desert Gimpel probably performs a monogamous marriage season and breeds mostly even, rarely twice a year. The breeding season is between mid-February and early June.

The pair formation takes place already in the squad before the breeding season. The male carries the beginning of the breeding season before his singing of low wait from or in Singflug. The courtship behavior consists of a nod in leaning forward, which can also be observed at the bottom of singing, as well as a Schnabelberühren for parallel list of partners. The male presents the female in an upright position and with partly erected plumage, drooping wing tips and tail aufgespreiztem skipping some previously collected stems ( " Halmbalz "). Under sharp " dwick " Call it presents the pink parts such as belly and rump. The female first met the with threatening pose, and later in a crouched posture. When ritualized sequence of the copula, the male proceeds with upraised beak and wings outstretched toward the female and flutters in a twist on the back of the female.

The cup-shaped nest is built mostly on the ground in hollows between rocks, occasionally in the protection of stones, rocks or bushes or in niches of cliffs or walls. Sometimes a base of twigs is created or bred in nests of other songbirds. The nest usually consists of coarse plant parts such as stems or stalks and is lined with wool plants, rootlets or animal hair. At a diameter of about 8 to 11 cm and a height of 5 cm, it has a 3.5 cm deep well of 6 cm diameter.

The nest consists of 4-6 short or pointed oval eggs with dimensions of approximately 15 × 20 mm. They are pale to bright blue ground fine dark reddish brown with fine sub- spots, speckled coarse at the blunt end and a maximum of matte. It laid an egg every day. The incubation is done by the female, starting with the last egg, and is, like the nestling period 13 to 14 days. Feed Both males and females. As with other bullfinches lateral fillet pockets are formed in the breeding season, enabling the transport of food in larger quantities over longer distances.

After 21 to 28 days the young birds become independent.