Rubén Barone
 ·  15 March 2025  13:18

Hi.

Very nice photo of a quite interesting species. Is it common in the area?

Best regards from the Canaries. 

Tim Schipper
 ·  15 March 2025  23:07

@Rubén: I think most people see them in or around the village but in low numbers. We saw a maximum of five at one moment I think. Typically when there is snow in the mountains, larger flocks (tens to hunderds) are being seen. However, snow is unfortunately becoming more infrequent there. 

Rubén Barone
 ·  18 March 2025  13:35

Hi again.

Thanks for your detailed response.

Best regards from the Canaries. 

George Sangster
 ·  20 March 2025  09:38, gewijzigd 20 March 2025  09:40

Superb photograph!

I take this opportunity to make a plea for making more recordings of the song of this taxon. 

As previously reported on this site, the IOC has lumped the African Crimson-winged Finch R. alienus with Asian Crimson-winged Finch R. sanguineus based on a lack of data on vocal and genetic divergence. The split was originally based on differences in morphology. While the morphological differences are not in doubt, the split would be better documented if it could be demonstrated that the songs also differ (using quantitative analysis of a sufficient sample of recordings).

Despite dozens of birders visiting its breeding range in Morocco each year, there are currently only two recordings of the song of R. alienus on Xeno-Canto. The number of song recordings of R. sanguineus is also pretty small.

If you have an opportunity to make sound recordings of the songs of these taxa, but especially of R. alienus, this would be most helpful for future research purposes. The more individuals recorded the better. Please share your recordings on Xeno-Canto or eBird/ML.

Leo JR Boon
 ·  20 March 2025  20:22

Sound Approach zal toch wel geluidsopnamen hebben.