Passerine, Sichuan (1 Viewer)

Andrew Whitehouse

Professor of Listening

Supporter

• Jul 5, 2018

• #1

This passerine was seen at Mengbishan in Sichuan on 12th June. It was in high altitude conifer forest (I guess around 3500m asl). It rather puzzled me and my experienced guide in the field. It's sort of vaguely like a Plain Mountain Finch but seems not quite right, and didn't really have the right sort of jizz for that species. I'm still not really close to being able to figure it out, but perhaps I'm missing something obvious.

Both photos show the same bird. Most of the time it was in view I concentrated on getting shots of it, so don't have too much to add in terms of how it looked.

 

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StuartReeves

Local rarity

• Jul 5, 2018

• #2

My gut reaction was Chestnut-shouldered Petronia, or pale rock sparrow as it use to be called. No idea if that is a possibility in Sichuan though.

 

Andrew Whitehouse

Professor of Listening

Supporter

• Jul 5, 2018

• #3

StuartReeves said:

My gut reaction was Chestnut-shouldered Petronia, or pale rock sparrow as it use to be called. No idea if that is a possibility in Sichuan though.

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Yeah, I wondered about that too. I don't think it's ordinarily found anywhere near Sichuan and even if it did occur there occasionally would probably gravitate towards different habitats. It does look somewhat reminiscent of one though.

 

lewis20126

Well-known member

• Jul 5, 2018

• #4

I cannot see why it isn't a Plain Mountain Finch; wing pattern, undertail covert spots etc are all fine.

cheers, alan

 

Andrew Whitehouse

Professor of Listening

Supporter

• Jul 5, 2018

• #5

lewis20126 said:

I cannot see why it isn't a Plain Mountain Finch; wing pattern, undertail covert spots etc are all fine.

cheers, alan

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I think that's probably the most likely explanation, even though in some ways it looks noticeably different to how most PMFs look (i.e. it looks much plainer on mantle and head). I've found a few pictures that look a bit similar:
http://orientalbirdimages.org/search.php?Bird_ID=1975&Bird_Image_ID=120165
http://orientalbirdimages.org/search.php?Bird_ID=1975&Bird_Image_ID=104493
It has an odd combination of a very strongly marked wing pattern but otherwise very plain plumage, but perhaps this is related to moult i.e. fresh wing feathers but worn plumage elsewhere.

 

James Eaton

Trent Valley Crew

• Jul 6, 2018

• #6

That strongly marked wing pattern isn't shared by anything else in the region, so I'd plump for Plain Mountain Finch too. Was there a lot of snow suddenly high up? That often brings them way down into the trees during the summer.

James

 

Andrew Whitehouse

Professor of Listening

Supporter

• Jul 6, 2018

• #7

James Eaton said:

That strongly marked wing pattern isn't shared by anything else in the region, so I'd plump for Plain Mountain Finch too. Was there a lot of snow suddenly high up? That often brings them way down into the trees during the summer.

James

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Thanks James. There wasn't too much snow on the nearby mountains, though we'd had snow at Balangshan a couple of days earlier.