Editing Trumpeter finch

{{Short description|Species of bird}}
{{Speciesbox
| name = Trumpeter finch
| status = LC
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| status_ref = <ref name = iucn>{{cite iucn| author = BirdLife International | year = 2019 | title = ''Bucanetes githagineus'' |amends=2017 | page = e.T22720513A155479195 | doi = 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-3.RLTS.T22720513A155479195.en | access-date = 14 March 2020}}</ref>
| image = Trumpeter finch (Bucanetes githagineus zedlitzi) male Kebili.jpg
| genus = Bucanetes
| species = githagineus
| authority = ([[martin Lichtenstein|Lichtenstein, MHC]], 1823)
| synonyms = ''Rhodopechys githaginea''
}}
[[File:Bucanetes githagineus amantum 224 Fuerteventura.jpg|thumb|''Bucanetes githagineus amantum '' [[MHNT]]]]

The '''trumpeter finch''' ('''''Bucanetes githagineus''''') is a small [[passerine]] [[bird]] in the [[finch]] [[Family (biology)|family]] [[Fringillidae]]. It is mainly a desert species which is found in North Africa and Spain through to southern Asia. It has occurred as a [[Vagrancy (biology)|vagrant]] in areas north of its breeding range.

==Taxonomy==
The trumpeter finch was [[species description|formerly described]] in 1823 by the German naturalist [[Hinrich Lichtenstein]] under the [[binomial name]] ''Fringilla githaginea'' based on a specimen collected in Upper Egypt.<ref>{{cite book | last=Lichtenstein | first=Hinrich | author-link=Hinrich Lichtenstein | year=1823 | title=Verzeichniss der Doubletten des Zoologischen Museums der Königl. Universität zu Berlin : nebst Beschreibung vieler bisher unbekannter Arten von Säugethieren, Vögeln, Amphibien und Fischen | language=German | location=Berlin | publisher=T. Trautwein | page=24 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/28229272 }}</ref><ref>{{ cite book | editor-last=Paynter | editor-first=Raymond A. Jr | year=1968 | title=Check-List of Birds of the World | volume=14 | publisher=Museum of Comparative Zoology | place=Cambridge, Massachusetts | page=264 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14481465 }}</ref> The species is now placed together with [[Mongolian finch]] in the genus ''[[Bucanetes]]'' that was introduced in 1851 by [[Jean Cabanis]].<ref name=ioc>{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela C. Rasmussen | date=August 2024 | title=Finches, euphonias | work=IOC World Bird List Version 14.2 | url=http://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/finches/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=2 February 2024}}</ref> The genus name ''Bucanetes'' is from [[Ancient Greek]] βυκανητής : ''bukanētēs'' (variant transliteration of ''bykanētēs''), "trumpeter"; from βυκάνη : ''bukánē'' : "spiral trumpet, horn". The specific name ''githagineus'' is [[Latin]] from '' Githago'', the [[Agrostemma githago|corn cockle]] (from ''gith'', "[[coriander]]", and ''-ago'' "resembling"). [[Coenraad Jacob Temminck|Temminck]] believed that the bird's name was derived from that of the plant.<ref name =job>{{cite book | last= Jobling | first= James A. | year= 2010| title= The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | url= https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling | publisher=Christopher Helm | location = London, United Kingdom | isbn = 978-1-4081-2501-4 | pages =[https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling/page/n79 79], 173 }}</ref>

The genus name ''Bucanetes'' is from [[Ancient Greek]] βυκανητής : ''bukanētēs'' (variant transliteration of ''bykanētēs''), "trumpeter"; from βυκάνη : ''bukánē'' : "spiral trumpet, horn". The specific name ''githagineus'' is [[Latin]] from '' Githago'', the [[Agrostemma githago|corn cockle]] (from ''gith'', "[[coriander]]", and ''-ago'' "resembling"). [[Coenraad Jacob Temminck|Temminck]] believed that the bird's name was derived from that of the plant.<ref name =job>{{cite book | last= Jobling | first= James A. | year= 2010| title= The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | url= https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling | publisher=Christopher Helm | location = London, United Kingdom | isbn = 978-1-4081-2501-4 | pages =[https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling/page/n79 79], 173 }}</ref>

There are four recognised subspecies:<ref name=ioc/>
* ''B. g. amantum'' - <small>([[Ernst Hartert|Hartert]], 1903)</small> - the Canary Islands
* ''B. g. zedlitzi'' - <small>([[Oscar Rudolph Neumann|Neumann]], 1907)</small> - North Africa and southeastern Spain
* ''B. g. githagineus'' <small>([[Hinrich Lichtenstein|Lichtenstein, MHK]], 1823)</small> - Egypt and Sudan
* ''B. g. crassirostris'' ([[Edward Blyth|Blyth]], 1847) - from Turkey and the [[Sinai Peninsula]] in the west east through the Middle East and Central Asia to [[Rajasthan]] and [[Haryana]] in India.
It has been recorded as a vagrant in [[Great Britain]] with the first records there both occurring in 1971 in [[Suffolk]] and in [[Sutherland]],<ref name = Dymond>{{cite book | author1 = J.N. Dymond | author2 = P.A. Fraser | author3 = S.J.M. Gantlett | name-list-style = amp | year = 1990 | title = Rare Birds in Britain and Ireland | publisher = Poyser | isbn = 0856610534 | pages = 305–306}}</ref> [[Channel Island]], Denmark, Sweden Germany and Austria. It is possibly a regular migrant in southern Europe away from Spain with records of flocks from Italy and Malta.<ref name = Lewington>{{cite book | author1 = Ian Lewington | author2 = Per Alstrom | author3 = Peter Colston | year = 1991 | title = A Field Guide to the Rare Birds of Britain and Europe (Collins Field Guide) | publisher = HarperCollins | isbn = 0002199173 | page = 385}}</ref> There was a population in the [[Algarve]] in Portugal which originated from escaped cage birds.<ref name = BIP/>

==Description==
The trumpeter finch is a small, long-winged bird. It has a large head and short, very thick bill. The summer male has a red bill, grey head and neck, and pale brown upper parts. The breast, rump and tail are pink, the last having dark terminal feathers. Winter males, females and young birds are a very washed-out version of the breeding male. The song of this bird is a buzzing nasal trill, like a tin trumpet.<ref name = Beaman>{{cite book | author1 = Mark Neaman | author2 = Steve Madge | year = 1998 | title = The Handbook of Bird Identification: For Europe and the Western Palearctic | series = Helm Identification Guides | publisher = Helm | isbn = 0713639601 | pages = 781}}</ref>

==Distribution and habitat==
The trumpeter finch breeds from the [[Canary Islands]] eastwards across North Africa, as far south as Mauritania, Mali and Chad, with isolated populations in Sudan and Ethiopia and Djibouti. In the Middle East, it is found in Egypt east to Iraq and south in the [[Arabian Peninsula]] to Yemen and Oman and north into Turkey and Armenia. In central Asia it ranges from Iran north to Kazakhstan and east to India.<ref name = iucn/> It has colonised southern Spain where breeding was first proved in 1971.<ref name = BIP>{{cite book | author1 = Eduardo de Juana | author2 = Ernest Garcia | year = 2015 | title = Birds of the Iberian Peninsula | publisher = Bloomsbury | isbn = 978-1408124802 | pages = 589–90}}</ref>

They are found in desert, semi-desert and the margins of deserts. They can also be found in vast open steppe areas where there are dry desolate hills with sparse low scrubby vegetation, edges of fields, on mountain slopes, in stony plains where there are no trees, cliffs, ravines, gorges and [[wadi]]s. In the desert regions of northern Africa it can also occur in villages and gardens and in regions of open sandy desert it frequents [[oasis|oases]].  The European breeding population is found in habitats where there is no tree cover but there is sparse scrub less than a metre in height, while the birds in the Canary Islands nest on sandy plains with halophytic and xerophytic scrub, as well as in more typical habitats.<ref name = iucn/>

In the summer of 2005, there was a notable irruption of this species into northwestern Europe, with several birds reaching as far as [[England]].<ref name = BBRC>{{cite journal | author = P.A.Fraser | author2 =M.J.Rogers | author3 = the Rarities Committee | name-list-style = amp | year = 2007 | title = Report on rare birds in Great Britain in 2005 Part 2:passerines | journal = British Birds | url = https://www.britishbirds.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/article_files/V100/V100_N02/V100_N2_3_35.pdf | volume = 100 | issue = 2 | pages = 72–104}}</ref>

==Behaviour==
Trumpeter finches breed from February to June in [[Monogamy in animals|monogamous]] pairs. The female builds a simple nest made of a loose collection of twigs, plat stems, down and fibres such as animal hair, grass fibres and sometimes feathers. It is placed in a shallow depression in the ground, in the shade of a rock, bush or a tussock of grass. It may also be situated as high as to {{convert|6|m|spell=in}} above ground in a pipe or wall. The clutch is normally 4–6 eggs.  They are mainly vegetarian and their diet consists of small seeds, shoots and buds of grasses and low ground-loving plants. They will eat some insects as well, mainly [[grasshopper]]s.  Trumpeter finches can be resident, dispersive or nomadic.<ref name = iucn/> They can occur in pairs or they form flocks of up to 20 individuals; larger flocks can form outside the breeding season, frequently made up of largely juvenile birds, rarely reaching 1,000 birds. In then Canary Islands they form mixed flocks with [[common linnet]]s and [[Spanish sparrow]]s. They will fly quite long distances in the late afternoons and in the evenings to find drinking water.<ref name=bow>{{cite web | last=Clement | first=P. | year=2020 | title=Trumpeter Finch (''Bucanetes githagineus''), version 1.0 | editor1-last=del Hoyo | editor1-first=J. | editor2-last=Elliott | editor2-first=A. | editor3-last=Sargatal | editor3-first=J. | editor4-last=Christie | editor4-first=D.A. | editor5-last=de Juana | editor5-first=E. | work=Birds of the World | location=Ithaca, NY, USA | publisher=Cornell Lab of Ornithology | url=https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.trufin2.01 | access-date=2 February 2025 | url-access=subscription }}</ref> The population in Spain is supported by birds dispersing from North Africa joining its population.<ref name = BIP/>

==Gallery==
<gallery mode = packed heights = 150px>
Trumpeter finch (Bucanetes githagineus zedlitzi) male Kebili.jpg|male ''B. g. githagineus''<br>Kebili, Tunisia
Trumpeter finch (Bucanetes githagineus zedlitzi) female Kebili.jpg|female ''B. g. githagineus''<br>Kebili, Tunisia
Male Trumpeter Finch.jpg|Male, ''B. g. crassirostris''<br>Rajasthan, India
</gallery>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://ibc.lynxeds.com/species/trumpeter-finch-rhodopechys-githaginea Trumpeter Finch videos, photos & sounds] on the Internet Bird Collection
* [http://www.oiseaux.net/birds/photos/trompeter.finch.html Oiseaux] Photos

{{Taxonbar|from=Q559883}}

[[Category:Bucanetes|trumpeter finch]]
[[Category:Finches|trumpeter finch]]
[[Category:Birds of North Africa]]
[[Category:Birds of West Asia]]
[[Category:Birds of the Canary Islands]]
[[Category:Fauna of the Sahara]]
[[Category:Birds described in 1823|trumpeter finch]]