From Opus

Photo by Gene
Photo taken: Illinois

Carduelis tristis

[edit] Identification

4 1/2-5" (11-13 cm).
Smaller than a sparrow.

[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
• White wing bars.

Female
Photo by GarryKirsch
Ontario, April 2009

[edit] Distribution

North America, Canada, United States, Central America
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

[edit] Subspecies^[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. ²

[edit] Behaviour

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

Bright "per-chick-o-ree", also rendered as "potato-chips", delivered in flight and coinciding with each undulation. ¹

[edit] References

1. Clements, JF. 2008. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2008. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist.
2. Avibase
3. enature
4. whatbird

• List of references

[edit] External Links