The collared grosbeak (''Mycerobas affinis'') is a species of

finch The true finches are small to medium-sized passerine birds in the family Fringillidae. Finches have stout conical bills adapted for eating seeds and nuts and often have colourful plumage. They occupy a great range of habitats where they are usua ...

in the family

Fringillidae The true finches are small to medium-sized passerine birds in the family Fringillidae. Finches have stout conical bills adapted for eating seeds and nuts and often have colourful plumage. They occupy a great range of habitats where they are usua ...

. Its range encompasses the northern regions of the

Indian Subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...

, mainly the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 100 ...

, along with some adjoining regions. It is found in

Bhutan Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainous ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...

and

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

. Its natural

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

is mountainous deciduous or mixed

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

Description

The collared grosbeak may be the largest species in the diverse

family, but several other species, including others in the genus ''Mycerobas'', may rival it in size. The species can range in length from . The body mass of two males was reportedly , while a single female weighed .''CRC Handbook of Avian Body Masses'' by John B. Dunning Jr. (Editor). CRC Press (1992), . Among standard measurements, the wing chord is , the

tail The tail is the section at the rear end of certain kinds of animals’ bodies; in general, the term refers to a distinct, flexible appendage to the torso. It is the part of the body that corresponds roughly to the sacrum and coccyx in mammals, r ...

is , the

bill Bill(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States) * Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature * Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer * Bill, a bird or animal's beak Plac ...

is and the tarsus is . Adult males are glossy black on the head, upper-wings and tail. Contrasting with the black head, the collar is an earthy brownish color. The rest of the male's plumage is a rich, deep yellow. The female is olive-green on back and yellowish below with no black about the face. The juvenile birds are fairly similar in appearance to the adult female. BirdsAsiaJohnGoVGoul 0100

The flight call of this bird is a mellow but rapid ''Pip-pip-pip-pip-uh''. It is also known to utter a sharp alarm call, ''kurr''. The male's song is a clear, loud and rising whistle consisting of five to six notes. The grosbeaks may utter a creaky groan in antagonistic interactions.

Phylogeny

The sister genera ''

Eophona The Oriental grosbeaks (''Eophona'') are a genus of finches containing two species: The genus was introduced in 1851 by the English ornithologist and bird artist John Gould John Gould (; 14 September 1804 – 3 February 1881) was an Engl ...

'' and ''

Mycerobas The ''Mycerobas'' grosbeaks are a genus of finch in the family Fringillidae The true finches are small to medium-sized passerine birds in the family Fringillidae. Finches have stout conical bills adapted for eating seeds and nuts and often ha ...

'' form a

clade A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English term, ...

Ecology

The collared grosbeak ranges from fairly common to scarce within its range. The species summers and breeds at an elevation of . It engages in altitudinal movements, by winter traveling to as low as or even to . This grosbeak occurs in mixed and coniferous forests, commonly around stands of

maple ''Acer'' () is a genus of trees and shrubs commonly known as maples. The genus is placed in the family Sapindaceae.Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 9, June 2008 nd more or less continuously updated since http ...

oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

rhododendron ''Rhododendron'' (; from Ancient Greek ''rhódon'' "rose" and ''déndron'' "tree") is a very large genus of about 1,024 species of woody plants in the heath family (Ericaceae). They can be either evergreen or deciduous. Most species are nati ...

. It also may occur during the summer in dwarf juniper above the tree line in the mountains. Pairs or small parties usually perch near the tops of tall trees but forage often in lower vegetation or even on the ground. The collared grosbeak flies in tight flocks in a fast, direct but sometimes undulating flying style. The breeding behavior of this species is unknown. The grosbeak feeds on a variety of

seed A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiospe ...

s and

pine cone A conifer cone (in formal botanical usage: strobilus, plural strobili) is a seed-bearing organ on gymnosperm plants. It is usually woody, ovoid to globular, including scales and bracts arranged around a central axis, especially in conifers a ...

s as well as

bud In botany, a bud is an undeveloped or embryonic shoot and normally occurs in the axil of a leaf or at the tip of a stem. Once formed, a bud may remain for some time in a dormant condition, or it may form a shoot immediately. Buds may be spec ...

s or

shoot In botany, a plant shoot consists of any plant stem together with its appendages, leaves and lateral buds, flowering stems, and flower buds. The new growth from seed germination that grows upward is a shoot where leaves will develop. In the spri ...

nut Nut often refers to: * Nut (fruit), fruit composed of a hard shell and a seed, or a collective noun for dry and edible fruits or seeds * Nut (hardware), fastener used with a bolt Nut or Nuts may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Co ...

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particu ...

s (including

crab apple ''Malus'' ( or ) is a genus of about 30–55 species of small deciduous trees or shrubs in the family Rosaceae, including the domesticated orchard apple, crab apples, wild apples, and rainberries. The genus is native to the temperate zone of th ...

s). A variety of this tough plant life is plucked with the strong bill. It may also feed on

insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs ...

s, mainly

caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder Sym ...

s, as well as

snail A snail is, in loose terms, a shelled gastropod. The name is most often applied to land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs. However, the common name ''snail'' is also used for most of the members of the molluscan class Gastro ...

References

*''Finches and Sparrows'' by Peter Clement. Princeton University Press (1999). . {{Taxonbar, from=Q1085277

collared grosbeak The collared grosbeak (''Mycerobas affinis'') is a species of finch in the family Fringillidae. Its range encompasses the northern regions of the Indian Subcontinent, mainly the Himalayas, along with some adjoining regions. It is found in Bhuta ...

Birds of North India Birds of Nepal Birds of Bhutan Birds of Central China Birds of Yunnan

Taxonomy articles created by Polbot