Description:

Medium-sized, slender sandy-colored conical-billed finch with black-and-pink wings and notched tail. Pink edges to wing-coverts and secondaries, white edges to remiges and outer edges to tail, and black centres to tertials. Adult breeding has black bill (yellowish in non-breeding). Female has duller wing pattern than male.

Distribution:

Winter vagrant to the north-western areas of Gilgit-Baltistan, mainly in Hunza and Ghizer. Prefers dry plains with scattered trees and bushes, arid and semi-arid areas of open plains, semi-deserts with sparse vegetation. Usually not above 2000m.

Behavior:

Forages on the ground in or under vegetation; perches in trees and bushes and takes buds and shoots. In pairs and small flocks. Makes frequent visits to water. Mostly feeds on small seeds, buds, shoots; some insects. Insects taken include grasshoppers, flies, beetles and bugs.

Photo Gallery:

Range & Occurrence:

Resident Species

Summer Breeder

Winter Visitor

Passage Migrant

Distribution Map of Desert Finch in Gilgit-Baltistan (Status: )

Seasonal Occurrence of Desert Finch

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.