Cassin's finch

Cassin's finch
Male
Female
Conservation status
Near Threatened  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Fringillidae
Genus:	Haemorhous
Species:	H. cassinii
Binomial name
Haemorhous cassinii Baird, 1854
blue: breeding; green: year-round; yellow: wintering
Synonyms
Burrica cassinii Carpodacus cassinii

Cassin's finch (Haemorhous cassinii) is a bird in the finch family Fringillidae. This species and the other "American rosefinches" are placed in the genus Haemorhous by the American Ornithologists' Union but have usually been included in Carpodacus.

Adults have a short forked brown tail and brown wings. They have a longer bill than the purple finch. Adult males are raspberry red on the head, breast, back and rump; their back and undertail are streaked. Adult females have light brown upperparts and light underparts with brown streaks throughout; their facial markings are less distinct than those of the female purple finch.

Their breeding habitat is coniferous forest in mountains of western North America as far south as northern New Mexico and Arizona; also Southern California near Baja California. They nest in large conifers. They move to lower elevations in winter.

Birds from Canada migrate south; other birds are permanent residents; non-breeding resident birds winter as far south as central interior Mexico, the Mexican Plateau. Besides the 'breeding-residency' locale of southwest Canada, two disjunct breeding areas occur: the coastal mountains of extreme northern California and the Black Hills of South Dakota.

These birds forage in trees, sometimes in ground vegetation. They mainly eat seeds, buds and berries, some insects. When not nesting, they often feed in small flocks.

This bird was named after John Cassin, who was a curator at the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences.

Taxonomy

This bird belongs to the American Carpodacus genus, together with the House finch Carpodacus mexicanus. This American radiation is not genetically related to the Asian Carpodacus radiation. ^[2][3]

External links

• Cassin's Finch Identification Cornell Lab of Ornithology ("Haemorhous cassinii") – Cornell Lab of Ornithology

References

1. BirdLife International (2012). "Carpodacus cassinii". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2012.1. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 16 July 2012.
2. Arnaiz-Villena, A.; Moscoso, J.; Ruiz-del-Valle, V.; Gonzalez, J.; Reguera, R.; Wink, M.; Serrano-Vela, J. I. (2007). "Bayesian phylogeny of Fringillidae birds: status of the singular African oriole finch Linurgus olivaceus and evolution and heterogeneity of the genus Carpodacus" (PDF). Acta Zoologica Sinica 53 (5): 826–834. Retrieved 14 December 2009.
3. Arnaiz-Villena, A; Gómez-Prieto P; Ruiz-de-Valle V (2009). "Phylogeography of finches and sparrows". Nova Science Publishers. ISBN 978-1-60741-844--3.