Hooded siskin

The hooded siskin (Spinus magellanicus) is a small passerine bird in the finch family (Fringillidae), native to South America. It belongs to the putative clade of neotropical siskins in the genus Spinus sensu lato.

Hooded siskin
Male near Piraju (São Paulo, Brazil)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Fringillidae
Subfamily: Carduelinae
Genus: Spinus
Species:
S. magellanicus
Binomial name
Spinus magellanicus
(Vieillot, 1805)
Synonyms

Sporagra magellanica
Carduelis megellanica
Carduelis santaecrucis (but see text)

There are 11 subspecies, including the Santa Cruz hooded siskin (S. m. santaecrucis) of central and eastern Bolivia. This subspecies is sometimes considered to be a separate species.

Female in Brazil
Carduelis magellanica eggs MHNT

Description

Hooded siskins are 10 to 14 cm in length. The male is largely green above and yellow below with a black head. It has a narrow yellow collar and a yellow rump. The tail is black with yellow sides to the base and the wings are black with a broad yellow band. Females are duller with a green-brown head, yellow-green breast and sides and a whitish belly.

The twittering song may be uttered from a perch or in flight. It is varied and fast, and may contain imitations of other birds.

Distribution and ecology

It inhabits woodland, savannas, scrubland, farmland, parks and gardens. It occurs from sea-level up to 5000 m. In eastern South America, it is found from central Argentina north to central Brazil. In the Andean region, it occurs from northwestern Argentina and northern Chile north to central Colombia. There is an isolated population in southeastern Venezuela, Guyana and the Brazilian state of Roraima.

It is commonly found in flocks, feeding in trees or bushes or on the ground. The diet consists mainly of seeds together with buds, leaves and some insects. Geophagy has been observed in this species.[2]

Phylogeny

The Hooded Siskin is part of a recent and rapid adaptive radiation of Spinus finches in South America.[3]

Antonio Arnaiz-Villena et. al. originally placed this species as a sister taxa to the Yellow-faced Siskin (S. yarellii) using genetic material sourced from birds in the Argentine lowlands, in the southeastern portion of the bird's range.[4] Subsequent work by Elizabeth Beckman and Christopher Witt demonstrated that birds from the Andes in the northwestern portion of the range were more closely related to the Thick-billed Siskin (S. crassirostris) and that Hooded Siskin is therefore polyphyletic and includes at least two species.[3]

References

  1. BirdLife International (2012). "Carduelis magellanica". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2012. Retrieved 26 November 2013.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  2. Delgado-V. (2006)
  3. Beckman, Elizabeth J.; Witt, Christopher C. (2015-06-01). "Phylogeny and biogeography of the New World siskins and goldfinches: Rapid, recent diversification in the Central Andes". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 87: 28–45. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2015.03.005. ISSN 1055-7903. PMID 25796324.
  4. Arnaiz-Villena, A.; Álvarez-Tejado, M.; Ruíz-del-Valle, V.; García-de-la-Torre, C.; Varela, P.; Recio, M. J.; Ferre, S.; Martínez-Laso, J. (September 1998). "Phylogeny and rapid Northern and Southern Hemisphere speciation of goldfinches during the Miocene and Pliocene Epochs". Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences CMLS. 54 (9): 1031–1041. doi:10.1007/s000180050230. ISSN 1420-682X. PMID 9791543. S2CID 10654775.
  • Clement, Peter; Harris, Alan & Davis, John (1993): Finches and Sparrows: an identification guide. Christopher Helm, London. ISBN 0-7136-8017-2
  • Delgado-V., Carlos A. (2006): Observación de geofagia por el Jiguero Aliblanco Carduelis psaltria (Fringillidae). ["Report of geophagy in the Lesser Goldfinch C. psaltria (Fringillidae)"]. Boletín de la Sociedad Antioqueña de Ornitología 16(2): 31–34. [Spanish with English abstract] PDF fulltext
  • Jaramillo, Alvaro; Burke, Peter & Beadle, David (2003): Field Guide to the Birds of Chile, Christopher Helm, London. ISBN 0-7136-4688-8
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.