Scarlet finch
Carpodacus sipahi
The scarlet finch is a small passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae.
It is found in the Himalayas from central Nepal eastwards to Vietnam and is found spottily in the adjacent hills of Northeast India and Southeast Asia as far south as Thailand. It is resident in the Himalayas, but many birds winter to the immediate south. Its natural habitat is temperate forests.
It was described by the British naturalist Brian Houghton Hodgson in 1836 under the binomial name ''Corythus sipahi''. The species name ''sipahi'' comes from the Hindi word ''sipāhi'' for a soldier.
The scarlet finch was formerly placed in the monotypic genus ''Haematospiza'' but was moved to the rosefinch genus ''Carpodacus'' based on the results of molecular phylogenetic studies.
It is found in the Himalayas from central Nepal eastwards to Vietnam and is found spottily in the adjacent hills of Northeast India and Southeast Asia as far south as Thailand. It is resident in the Himalayas, but many birds winter to the immediate south. Its natural habitat is temperate forests.
It was described by the British naturalist Brian Houghton Hodgson in 1836 under the binomial name ''Corythus sipahi''. The species name ''sipahi'' comes from the Hindi word ''sipāhi'' for a soldier.
The scarlet finch was formerly placed in the monotypic genus ''Haematospiza'' but was moved to the rosefinch genus ''Carpodacus'' based on the results of molecular phylogenetic studies.