Description:

Small to medium-sized, brightly colored finch with fine pointed bill and notched tail. Adult is largely grey-brown with red face, yellow panel across black wings with white on tertials, and white rump. Juvenile lacks red face, upperparts and breast are faintly streaked.

Distribution:

Common resident and altitudinal migrant in all the regions of Gilgit-Baltistan. Found in orchards, open conifer forest, sparse deciduous woodland, scrub above the tree line; winters in lower-altitude foothills, valleys and plains to 1500m.

Behavior:

Actively forages on ground, but mostly in or on plants, bushes and tall vegetation; often perches acrobatically on seed heads, particularly thistles, and hangs upside-down on teasels and sunflowers. Uses long, thin tweezer-like bill to picks seeds from exposed and hidden flower heads. Feeds mostly on seeds (ripe and unripe), buds, flowers and fruit of plants; also some arthropods.

Photo Gallery:

Range & Occurrence:

Resident Species

Summer Breeder

Winter Visitor

Passage Migrant

Distribution Map of European Goldfinch in Gilgit-Baltistan (Status: )

Seasonal Occurrence of European Goldfinch

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.