The yellow-faced siskin (''Spinus yarrellii'') is a species of

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

in the family

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

. It is found in

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

and

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

. Its natural

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, 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 manifestation of its ...

s are subtropical or tropical moist

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher t ...

s, subtropical or tropical dry

shrubland Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, brush, or bush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominance (ecology), dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, herbaceous plant, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally o ...

arable land Arable land (from the , "able to be ploughed") is any land capable of being ploughed and used to grow crops.''Oxford English Dictionary'', "arable, ''adj''. and ''n.''" Oxford University Press (Oxford), 2013. Alternatively, for the purposes of a ...

plantation Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house, grow crops including cotton, cannabis, tob ...

s, and

urban area An urban area is a human settlement with a high population density and an infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas originate through urbanization, and researchers categorize them as cities, towns, conurbations or suburbs. In urbani ...

Taxonomy

The yellow-faced siskin was formally described in 1839 by the Franco-American ornithologist

John James Audubon John James Audubon (born Jean-Jacques Rabin, April 26, 1785 – January 27, 1851) was a French-American Autodidacticism, self-trained artist, natural history, naturalist, and ornithology, ornithologist. His combined interests in art and ornitho ...

under the

binomial name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin grammatical forms, altho ...

''Carduelis yarrellii''. Audubon had illustrated the male and female birds in his '' The Birds of North America''. He mistakenly specified the type locality as "Northern California" but this was re-designated in 1926 by the American ornithologist

W. E. Clyde Todd Walter Edmond Clyde Todd (Smithfield, Ohio, September 6, 1874 – June 25, 1969) was an American ornithologist who worked at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He collected specimens mainly in the ...

as the Brazilian state of

Bahia Bahia () is one of the 26 Federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo (state), São Paulo, Mina ...

. Audubon chose the specific epithet to honour the English naturalist and bookseller

William Yarrell William Yarrell (3 June 1784 – 1 September 1856) was an English zoologist, prolific writer, bookseller and naturalist admired by his contemporaries for his precise scientific work. Yarrell is best known as the author of ''A History of Briti ...

. The yellow-faced siskin is now one of 20 finches placed in the genus '' Spinus'' that was introduced by

Carl Ludwig Koch Carl Ludwig Koch (21 September 1778 – 23 August 1857) was a German entomologist and arachnologist. He was responsible for classifying a great number of spiders, including the Brazilian whiteknee tarantula and common house spider. He was born ...

in 1816. A phylogenetic study published in 2015 found that the yellow-faced siskin was most closely related to the

hooded siskin The hooded siskin (''Spinus magellanicus'') is a small passerine bird in the finch family (biology), family (Fringillidae), native to South America. It belongs to the putative clade of neotropical siskins in the genus ''Spinus (genus), Spinus sen ...

(''Spinus magellanicus''). No

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

are recognised.

Description

The yellow-faced siskin is

sexually dimorphic Sexual dimorphism is the condition where sexes of the same species exhibit different Morphology (biology), morphological characteristics, including characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most dioecy, di ...

with the male having a black crown. Both sexes have a bright yellow body with an olive back and black and yellow wings; the legs are pink and the tail is black on top and white underneath. Like other birds in its genus, it has a cone-shaped bill adapted to hold and shell seeds. The amount of black on the males head can vary with the lores and ear coverts also being black on some birds. Its call is a complex and melodious warble much like the calls of other relatives like the

pine siskin The pine siskin (''Spinus pinus'') is a North American bird in the finch family. It is a migratory bird with an extremely sporadic winter range. Taxonomy The pine siskin was formally described in 1810 by the American ornithologist Alexander W ...

and

American goldfinch The American goldfinch (''Spinus tristis'') is a small North American bird in the finch Family (biology), family. It is Bird migration, migratory, ranging from mid-Alberta to North Carolina during the breeding season, and from just south of th ...

Distribution

The yellow-faced siskin has a spotty distribution throughout Southeastern

in the states of

Ceará Ceará (, ) is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, northeastern part of the country, on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. It is the List of Brazilian states by population, eighth-largest Brazilian State by ...

Paraíba Paraíba ( , ; ) is a states of Brazil, state of Brazil. It is located in the Brazilian Northeast, and it is bordered by Rio Grande do Norte to the north, Ceará to the west, Pernambuco to the south and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Paraíba i ...

Pernambuco Pernambuco ( , , ) is a States of Brazil, state of Brazil located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast region of the country. With an estimated population of 9.5 million people as of 2024, it is the List of Brazilian states by population, ...

Piauí Piauí ( ) is one of the states of Brazil, located in the country's Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region. The state has 1.6% of the Brazilian population and produces 0.7% of the Brazilian GDP. Piauí has the shortest coastline of any coas ...

, and

. There is also a disjunct population in northern

, though many authorities consider these to be escaped cage birds; However, specimens of this population were collected there in 1914.

Behaviour and habitat

The yellow-faced siskins diet mainly consists of small seeds but also feeds on berries and insects. Its nest is cup shaped and mainly made out of grasses, spider webs, and hairs. Despite its small range, it occurs in a wide range of habitats including

caatinga Caatinga () is a type of semi-arid tropical vegetation, and an ecoregion characterized by this vegetation in interior northeastern Brazil. The name "Caatinga" comes from the Tupi word '' ka'atinga'', meaning "white forest" or "white vegetat ...

, urban areas, forest edges, second growth forests, and coffee plantations.

Status

The yellow-faced siskin is currently ranked as vulnerable by the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

due to its heavy exploitation by the illegal bird trade which, along with deforestation pose serious risks to the bird. While the bird has always been semi-popular in the bird trade, increased trapping since the 1980s has seen a sharp decline in the birds population.

References

yellow-faced siskin Birds of the Caatinga Endemic birds of Brazil yellow-faced siskin Taxonomy articles created by Polbot yellow-faced siskin {{Fringillidae-stub