Description:

Medium-sized finch with peaked crown, broad wingbars and white rump. Male non-breeding and female have orange breast and flanks (contrasting with white belly), orange wing-bar, and white rump. Head and mantle of male become blacker towards breeding season and bill becomes black.

Distribution:

Uncommon winter visitor and passage migrant in lower valleys of Ghizer, Gilgit and Diamer districts. Mainly in areas of deciduous trees, along edges of open agricultural fields, orchards, weedy and stubble fields, rarely above 3000m.

Behavior:

Forages mainly in low shrubs, bushes and trees; picks insects from bark of trunk, branches and among foliage. In winter and early spring usually forages on ground, also digs into leaf litter in search of beech mast. Mostly feeds on seeds and fruits; also small invertebrates and their larvae, size of adult animal prey mostly up to 6 mm and larvae to 20 mm long.

Photo Gallery:

Range & Occurrence:

Resident Species

Summer Breeder

Winter Visitor

Passage Migrant

Distribution Map of Brambling in Gilgit-Baltistan (Status: )

Seasonal Occurrence of Brambling

Resources:

Birds of Pakistan: Helm Field Guides (R. Grimmett & T. Inskipp)
The Birds of Pakistan (T. J. Roberts)
Birds of the Indian Subcontinent (C. Inskipp, R. Grimmett & T. Inskipp)
Birds of South Asia: The Ripley Guide (P. Rasmussen & J. Anderton)
Birds of India: Collins Field Guide (N. Arlott)
Handbook of the Birds of India and Pakistan (S. Ali & S. D. Ripley)
Handbook of the Birds of the World (https://www.hbw.com)
The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World, 6th Edition
iNaturalist BoGB (inaturalist.org/projects/birds-of-gilgit-baltistan)
Birds of Gilgit-Baltistan (http://fb.me/birdsgb)

*Gallery images on this page are shared from flickr.com, and are copyrighted to their respective creators or owners.