Citril Finch

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Citril Finch
Conservation status
Least Concern
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Passeriformes Family: Fringillidae Genus: Carduelis Species: C. citrinella
Binomial name
Carduelis citrinella (Pallas, 1764)
Synonyms
Serinus citrinella

The Citril Finch (Carduelis citrinella) is a small songbird which is a member of the finch family. For a long time, it was placed in the genus Serinus, but it is apparently closely related to the European Goldfinch (Arnaiz-Villena et al., 1998, contra van den Elzen & Khoury, 1999).

This bird is a resident breeder in the mountains of southern Europe from Spain to the Alps.

Its habitat is high level mountain coniferous forests and alpine meadows. It nests in trees, the 3-5 eggs being incubated by the female.

The 12 cm long Citril Finch is greyish above, with a brown tinge to the back, which also has black streaks. The underparts and the double wing bars are yellow. It shares with its relatives a bright face mask which is also yellow in this species.

Sexes are similar, although young females may be greyish below, and juvenile birds, unlike in European Serinus species, are brown, lacking any yellow or green in the plumage.

The song is a silvery twittering resembling that of the Goldfinch and the Serin. The call is a tee-ee like Siskin.

The Corsican Finch was formerly regarded a subspecies of the Citril Finch, but it differs in morphology and vocalizations (Cramp & Perrins, 1994) as well as mtDNA sequence (Sangster, 2000, contra Pasquet & Thibault, 1997) and they are now considered distinct species (Sangster et al., 2002).

[edit] References

• Arnaiz-Villena, A.; Álvarez-Tejado, M.; Ruiz-del-Valle, V.; García-de-la-Torre, C.; Varela, P.; Recio, M. J.; Ferre. S. & Martínez-Laso, J. (1998): Phylogeny and rapid Northern and Southern Hemisphere speciation of goldfinches during the Miocene and Pliocene Epochs. Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences 54: 1031–1041. DOI:10.1007/s000180050230 (article, PDF fulltext) DOI:10.1007/s000180050280 (erratum, PDF fulltext)

• BirdLife International (2004). Serinus citrinella. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 12 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern

• Clement, Peter; Harris, Alan & Davis, John (1993): Finches and Sparrows: an identification guide. Christopher Helm, London. ISBN 0-7136-8017-2

• Cramp, S. & Perrins, C. M. (eds) (1994): The Birds of the Western Palearctic, Vol. 8. Oxford University Press, Oxford.

• Förschler, M.I. & Kalko, E.K.V. (2006): Macrogeographic variations in food choice of mainland citril finches Carduelis [citrinella] citrinella and insular Corsican (citril) finches Carduelis [citrinella] corsicanus. Journal of Ornithology 147: 441-447. DOI:10.1007/s10336-005-0032-6

• Förschler, M.I. & Kalko, E.K.V. (2006): Breeding ecology and nest site selection in allopatric mainland Citril Finches Carduelis [citrinella] citrinella and insular Corsican Finches Carduelis [citrinella] corsicanus. Journal of Ornithology 147: 553-564. DOI:10.1007/s10336-006-0079-z

• Förschler, M.I. (2006): Absence of insular density inflation in Corsican Finches Carduelis [citrinella] corsicanus. Acta Ornithologica 41(2): 171-175.

• Pasquet, E. & Thibault, J.-C. (1997): Genetic differences among mainland and insular forms of the Citril Finch Serinus citrinella. Ibis 139(4): 679–684.

• Sangster, G. (2000): Genetic distance as a test of species boundaries in the Citril Finch Serinus citrinella: a critique and taxonomic reinterpretation. Ibis 142(3): 487–490.

• Sangster, George; Knox, Alan G.; Helbig, Andreas J. & Parkin, David T. (2002): Taxonomic recommendations for European birds. Ibis 144(1): 153–159. DOI:10.1046/j.0019-1019.2001.00026.x PDF fulltext

• van den Elzen, R. & Khoury, F. (1999): Systematik, phylogenetische Analyse und Biogeographie der Großgattung Serinus Koch, 1816 (Aves, Carduelidae). Courier Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg 215: 55–65. [Article in German]