Black-headed Siskin - BirdForum Opus

Photo by Raul Padilla
Tutotepec, Mexico, May 2010

Spinus notatus

Carduelis notata

Identification

Juvenile
Photo by Raul Padilla
La Mision, Mexico, December 2014

10–12 cm (4-4¾ in)
Male

Black head and chest
Black shoulders
Golden yellow upperparts and underparts
Bright yellow wing bars

Female - similar to male but lacks the black chest.

Distribution

North and Central America
North America: Texas
Central America: Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua

Taxonomy

Subspecies

There are 3 subspecies^[1]:

S. n. notata:

Oak-pine forests of eastern Mexico (San Luis Potosí) to northern Guatemala

S. n. forreri:

Oak-pine belt of western Mexico (southern Sonora and Chihuahua to Guerrero)

S. n. oleacea:

Coniferous forests of Belize to Honduras and northern Nicaragua

Formerly placed in the genus Carduelis.

Habitat

Lower and submontane forests between 2000-3000m. Agricultural, woodland and gardens.

Behaviour

Diet

They forage on the ground, cling to plant stems, and in trees searching for a variety of plant and pine seeds.

Breeding

There is little information available. Their breeding season runs from May to July and they lay 2 eggs.

References

Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2016. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2016, with updates to August 2016. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
Avibase
BF Member observations
Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved February 2017)

List of references

Recommended Citation

BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Black-headed Siskin. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 24 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Black-headed_Siskin

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