Description:

Large, stout yellowish bill, long-winged, sandy finch with bright pink in wing and notched tail. Blackish crown giving capped appearance, dark streaking on brown mantle, dark-streaked ear-coverts, brown breast-band, streaking on flanks; belly and crescent below brown breast are strikingly white.

Distribution:

Locally common resident in western tip of Ghizer and rare visitor in Hunza district. Found around 2500-3600m in montane slopes and in high-level valleys, bare mountain slopes, boulder fields, cliffs and gorges with or without sparse scrub.

Behavior:

Forages almost entirely on the ground, perches on rocks and bushes; hops on ground, and has distinctive waddling walk. Pulls tall grass seed heads down and stands on stem while extracting seeds. Feeds on mostly small seeds, buds and shoots of grasses, semi-desert and alpine plants; also some insects.

Photo Gallery:

Range & Occurrence:

Resident Species

Summer Breeder

Winter Visitor

Passage Migrant

Distribution Map of Crimson-winged Finch in Gilgit-Baltistan (Status: )

Seasonal Occurrence of Crimson-winged Finch

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.