The red siskin (''Spinus cucullatus'') is a small endangered finch native to tropical

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the souther ...

- in northern Colombia, northern

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in ...

(where it is called the "cardenalito") and Guyana. It was common in the early 20th century, occurring throughout the foothills of northern Venezuela, but has now become extremely rare in a fragmented range. The population on

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

is believed to be

extirpated Local extinction, also known as extirpation, refers to a species (or other taxon) of plant or animal that ceases to exist in a chosen geographic area of study, though it still exists elsewhere. Local extinctions are contrasted with global extinct ...

, with no sightings since 1960.

Habitat

The red siskin is found in open country, forest edges and grassland with trees or shrubs. The female is believed to lay three greenish-white eggs in a grassy cup nest in a tree.

Description

The red siskin is about 10 cm long. The male is mainly deep red, with black on the head, throat, flight feathers and tail tip, and a whitish lower belly and under tail. The female is grey on the head, breast, and upper parts, apart from a red rump and upper tail. The breast is grey with reddish flanks, and the rest of the underparts, the wings and tail resemble the corresponding areas of the male. Immature females are paler than the adults, and immature males are brown rather than red.

Call

The call is a high-pitched chitter and sharp ''chi-tit'' like the

Indian silverbill The Indian silverbill or white-throated munia (''Euodice malabarica'') is a small passerine bird found in the Indian Subcontinent and adjoining regions that was formerly considered to include the closely related African silverbill (''Euodice ...

, and the male's song is a musical goldfinch-like melody with twitters and trills.

Diet

Red siskins eat seeds and are highly gregarious. When they were more numerous, they formed semi-nomadic flocks.

Conservation

This

siskin The name siskin when referring to a bird is derived from an adaptation of the German dialect words ''sisschen'', ''zeischen'', which are diminutive forms of Middle High German (''zîsec'') and Middle Low German (''ziseke'', ''sisek'') words, which ...

has been illegally trapped for the cage bird trade and endangered by environmental factors. Domestication has probably been responsible for the continuation of the species, which might otherwise be extinct. This is an attractive finch with a pleasant song, and its unique coloration for a small finch has led to it being used for interbreeding with domestic canaries to produce varieties with red in the plumage.

Conservation status

The red siskin is listed as

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inv ...

by the

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biol ...

and nationally critically endangered in Venezuela. It is listed on

CITES Appendix I CITES (shorter name for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, also known as the Washington Convention) is a multilateral treaty to protect endangered plants and animals from the threats of interna ...

. The greatest threat to the species has been intense illegal trapping for the bird trade since the 1940s, however the species also faces extensive habitat loss. Some hope has been given to this highly endangered species by the discovery in 2003 of a population of several thousand birds in southern Guyana, 1000 km from any previously known colony. Otherwise, the world population is believed to be between 600-6,000 pairs. Researchers at the

Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute The Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) is a unit of the Smithsonian Institution located on a campus located just outside the town of Front Royal, Virginia. An extension of the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., the SCBI has played ...

lead a program, the Red Siskin Initiative, with the goals of uncovering more about this species and preventing its extinction. The National Aviary in Pittsburgh, PA has a captive breeding program for the species.

References

*''Birds of Venezuela'' by Hilty, * *''Finches and sparrows'' by Clement, Harris and Davis,

External links

Birdlife International fact page
{{Taxonbar, from=Q27075875 Spinus (genus) Birds of Colombia Birds of the Guianas Birds of Venezuela Birds of Trinidad and Tobago Birds of Puerto Rico Birds of the Caribbean Birds described in 1820 Taxa named by William John Swainson Species endangered by the pet trade