The Syrian serin (''Serinus syriacus'') is a brightly coloured small

passerine A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped'), which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines are distinguished from other orders of birds by t ...

bird in the finch 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 ...

Description

The Syrian serin is prettily coloured with bright yellow and pale grey feathers. The eyes are large and are surrounded by a bright yellow ring. The beak is grey and the legs are pale pinkish-grey. It has a long trilling call and may also chirp and twitter.

Distribution and habitat

Syrian serins breed in

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

and

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

, at altitudes of between 900 and 1,900 metres. The population in Jordan makes local movements in winter, but the birds of Lebanon, Israel and Syria migrate to wintering grounds in

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

and

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

. They inhabit rocky areas with oak and conifer shrubs or trees and frequent grasslands and fields feeding mainly on the seeds of annuals and grasses. In Southwestern Jordan, its main diet during winter is the seeds of ''

Artemisia Artemisia may refer to: People * Artemisia I of Caria (fl. 480 BC), queen of Halicarnassus under the First Persian Empire, naval commander during the second Persian invasion of Greece * Artemisia II of Caria (died 350 BC), queen of Caria under th ...

''.

Phylogeny

This species is phylogenetically included within the group of ''

Serinus alario The black-headed canary (''Serinus alario'') is a species of finch found in Lesotho, Namibia and South Africa. It is sometimes placed in the genus ''Alario'' as ''Alario alario'' Its habitat is dry open scrub and grassland, the edges of cultiva ...

'' now thriving around the southern tip of Africa, together with ''

Serinus canicollis The Cape canary (''Serinus canicollis'') is a small passerine bird in the finch family. It is a resident breeder in southern Africa and has been introduced to Mauritius and Réunion. Its habitat is fynbos, grassland and gardens, preferably in ...

'' (African distribution) and ''

Serinus pusillus The red-fronted serin or fire-fronted serin (''Serinus pusillus'') is a small passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae. It prefers high mountain regions and is 11–12 cm long. This bird breeds in the Caucasus and the higher mounta ...

'' (Asian distribution
Arnaiz-Villena et al., 1999
an
Arnaiz-Villena et al., 2006

Breeding

Males court females with a song display, and each pair builds a nest in a tree once the snow has begun to melt in April or May. Four pale blue, glossy eggs are laid in April and May, and the female incubates these for 12–14 days. The young fledge after just 14–16 days and the parents then move up to around 1,750 metres in July and August to produce a second clutch. When conditions allow, the pair can produce three broods. In southwest Jordan, most pairs apparently breed only once per year as suitable breeding habitat does not exist at higher elevations.

Conservation

The species is evaluated by IUCN as Vulnerable. The population is declining due to

logging Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks or skeleton cars. Logging is the beginning of a supply chain ...

livestock production Intensive agriculture, also known as intensive farming (as opposed to extensive farming), conventional, or industrial agriculture, is a type of agriculture, both of crop plants and of animals, with higher levels of input and output per unit of a ...

and

hunting Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...

References

*A. Arnaiz-Villena, M. Alvarez-Tejado, V. Ruiz-del-Valle, C. García-de-la-Torre, P. Varela, M. J. Recio, S. Ferre, and J. Martinez-Laso (1999)
Rapid Radiation of Canaries (Genus Serinus)
(PDF). ''Mol. Biol. Evol.'' 16(1): 2–11. * Jorge Zamora, Juan Moscoso, Valentin Ruiz-del-Valle, Ernesto Lowy, Juan I. Serrano-Vela, Juan Ira-Cachafeiro, Antonio Arnaiz-Villena (2006)
Conjoint mitochondrial phylogenetic trees for canaries Serinus spp. and goldfinches Carduelis spp. show several specific polytomies.
(PDF). ''Ardeola'' 53(1): 1-17. * Khoury, F. (1998): Habitat selection by Syrian Serin ''Serinus syriacus'' in SW Jordan. Sandgrouse 20(2): 87–93. * Khoury, F. (2000). The impact of drought conditions on the winter distribution and population of Syrian Serin ''Serinus syriacus'' in south-west Jordan. Sandgrouse 22 (1): 64–66. * Khoury, F. (2001). The breeding ecology of Syrian Serin ''Serinus syriacus'' in Jordan. Sandgrouse 23(1): 68–69. * Khoury, F. (2003). Feeding ecology of Syrian Serin ''Serinus syriacus'' in SW Jordan. Ecology of Birds (Oekologie der Voegel) 25: 5-35. {{Taxonbar, from=Q184295 Syrian serin Birds of Western Asia Birds of the Middle East Syrian serin Syrian serin