Desert finch

Taxonomy

Recent research by Zamora et al. (2006) has revealed that the desert finch is more closely related to the greenfinches of the genus Chloris, as indicated by DNA sequence analysis, vocalizations, and the presence of a black eye-stripe. Genetically, it seems very close to the common ancestor of the greenfinches. It may be that the latter evolved from a desert form and later developed the green plumage, or that the common ancestor of the greenfinches and the desert finch (which lived around 6 million years ago) was a species of semiarid habitat which subsequently diverged into a truly desert-adapted lineage, today represented by the desert finch, and the ancestor of a woodlands lineage, the greenfinches.

Description

It has an average wingspan of 26 cm. It has a stout black bill, black and white remiges and rectrices, and a slash of rosy-pink on each wing. The female is more dull in color than the male, but other than that the adult sexes are similar in color pattern.

Ecology

The desert finch is indeed a desert resident in areas where water is readily available, but it can also be found in low mountains and foothills, and in cultivated valleys.

This species does not migrate except locally. The desert finch congregates near rural and remote human settlements, and the well-watered orchard in otherwise arid land is an ideal habitat. It can be found in feeding in large flocks of its own species or mixed finch flocks.

It feeds on seeds and the occasional insect. Nesting occurs in trees in the spring, often in fruit trees in orchards, and the female lays and incubates 4 to 6 pale green, lightly speckled eggs.

References

• Groth, J. G. 1994. A mitochondrial cytochrome b phylogeny of cardueline finches. Journal für Ornithologie, 135: 31.
• Lichtenstein, Martin Heinrich Carl: [Description of Carduelis obsoleta]. In: Eversmann, Eduard Friedrich, Reise von Orenburg nach Buchara. Nebst einem Wortverzeichniss aus der Afghanischen Spracbe begleitet von einem naturhistorischen Anhange und einer Vorrede von Н. Lichtenstein: Appendix 132. Berlin, 1822. [in German]

References

1. BirdLife International. (2016). "''Rhodospiza obsoleta''".