From Opus

Male in breeding plumage
Photo by Gene
Illinois

Carduelis tristis

Spinus tristis

[edit] Identification

4 1/2-5" (11-13 cm).

[edit] Breeding male

• Bright yellow with a white rump
• Black forehead
• White edges on black wings and tail
• Yellow at bend of wing.

[edit] Female and winter male

• Duller and grayer with black wings and tail
• Wing bars are bright in the male, buffy in female.
• Male has more yellow on chin and face.

[edit] Distribution

North America, Canada, United States, Central America

Female
Photo by GarryKirsch
Ontario, April 2009

Canada: Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Saskatchewan
United States of America: New England, Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, North Dakota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, West Virginia, Wyoming
Central America: Mexico: Baja California, Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, Tamaulipas, Zacatecas, Hidalgo, Tlaxcala, Puebla, Veracruz, Oaxaca

[edit] Taxonomy

Male in non-breeding plumage
Photo by Gary Clark
Northeast Nevada, USA

[edit] Subspecies

Four subspecies are recognized^[1]:

• C. t. jewetti:

• South-western British Columbia to south-western Oregon (west of the Cascades)

• C. t. pallida:

• South-central British Columbia to [[west-central US; winters to Puebla and Veracruz

• C. t. salicamans:

• California (west of Sierra Nevada) to north-western Baja California

• C. t. tristis:

• Eastern Canada to east-central US; winters to south-eastern US and eastern Mexico

[edit] Habitat

Brushy thickets, weedy grasslands, and nearby trees.

[edit] Behaviour

Photo by D. Taylor
Wayne County, North Carolina, January 2012

Travels in flocks.
Undulating flight

[edit] Breeding

4 or 5 pale blue eggs are laid in a well-made cup of grass, bark strips, and plant down, placed in the upright fork of a small sapling or a shrub. Nests later in summer than other songbirds making it possible to use thistle down in constructing nests.

[edit] Vocalisation

Song: "per-chick-o-ree", also rendered as "potato-chips", delivered in flight and coinciding with each undulation.

[edit] References

1. Clements, JF. 2011. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to August 2011. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/downloadable-clements-checklist
2. Avibase
3. enature
4. whatbird

• List of references

[edit] External Links