| .רבדמ ןרצוצח (514 | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
|
םידרדרו רכזה תוצונ עבצ ץיקב ,רצקו הבע ורוקמ ,ןוסחו תיסחי ןטק :רבדמ ןרצוצח | ||||||||||
|
Subspecies and Distribution.
B. g. amantum Cnary Is. B. g. zeditze N Africa from Mauritania through Magrhreb and Libya to W and N Egypt, also S Spain and N Niger. B. g. githaginea C and S part of Nile valley and S-E desert of Egypt, S to N-C and N-E Sudan. B. g. crassirostris W Arabia, Sinai, Levant, S-C Turkey E through Bahrain, Iran, and Transcaucasia to Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, and W Pakistan. | ||||||||||
Descriptive notes.12-14 cm, 16-22 g, wingspan 25-28 cm. Rather small, stocky finch with bulbous bill, deep head, and rather short tail.Plumage rather uniform dusky or sandy-pink, with orange to wax-red bill, large dark eye, darker flight and tail-feathers, slightly paler rump, and orange-flesh legs. Song distinctive. Sexes dissimilar, some seasonal variation. HabitatPatchily distributed across warm arid mainly lowland or hilly subtropical regions from western Sahara across North Africa and Middle East.Concentrates in deserts, semi-deserts, and steppes with minimum of vegetation and much stony or gravelly surface, preferably fronted by rocky crags or vertical exposures with plenty of crevices and sparse growth of small bushes and grasses. Lives mainly on ground but require daily access to water and is ready to fly some distance to it, especially towards evening. Food and FeedingDiet seeds and other parts of grasses and low herbs, also a few insects. Forages almost wholly on ground, generally in rocky areas with scattered semi-desert vegetation. Flits, creeps, and runs mouse-like around stones and shrubs searching for seeds.Breeding.Eggs laid early May in S Spain, 1st half of Mar in Canary Is., Feb-Jun in N-W Africa, 1st clutch Mar-May , 2nd May-Jun in Israel.Nest site, depression on ground under rock, shrub, tussock, etc., in cleft between stones, or in cavity in rock face or wall of house, generally 3-6 m above ground. Nest, untedy foundation of small twigs, stalks, roots, rough grass, etc., neatly lined with dry grass, plant down, wool, hair, and feathers. 4-6 eggs, sub-elliptical to short oval, smooth and slightly glossy. Pale blue, sparsely marked with rusty to purplish-black spots and speckles, generally at broad end. Sometimes small reddish-violet under-markings. Incubation, 13-14 days, by female only. Movements.Resident and dispersive or nomadic. Need for daily water-supply leads to erratic movements, also to temporary colonization and frequent small-scale changes of range.In N Africa zeditzi, erratic pattern of movement leads to local abundance in some years and absence in others, both in summer and winter. Status and ConservationNot globally threatened. Has recently spread in Spain, Morocco, and Israel. In Israel estimate a few thousand pairs.Israel.In Israel subspecies B. g. crassirostris common resident and dispersive in most highland deserts of S C and E Negev, the Arava through Judean Desert, Dead Sea Depression to Shomron Desert. |
| |||||||||
| HOME | NEXT | |||||||||
