Baikal bullfinch
The Baikal bullfinch, also known as the grey bullfinch, grey-headed bullfinch or great bullfinch, is a small passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae. It is found in eastern Kazakhstan, Mongolia and adjacent areas of Russia and China. Although sometimes considered a full species, most authorities treat it a subspecies of the Eurasian bullfinch. It migrates altitudinally from its summer breeding range in the Altai Mountains to its winter range in the adjacent foothills and plains.
Description
The male differs from that of the nominate subspecies by having completely grey underparts.Distribution and habitat
In Kazakhstan the Baikal bullfinch is a rare resident and common winter visitor. It breeds in the western Altai Mountains, including the Belaya Uba valley, and the Sayan Mountains of western Mongolia; in the southern Altai it breeds in the upper reaches of the Bukhtarma River, around Lake Markakol, and in the Kara-Kaba valley. On post-breeding dispersal and in winter, it occurs mainly in the foothills and plains of eastern Kazakhstan, sometimes as far west as Semipalatinsk, Kurgaldzhino Reserve and Astana, Almaty, the Chu-Iliyskiye Mountains and at Kyzylorda in the Syr Darya valley.The Baikal bullfinch inhabits fir forests with some deciduous trees, fir-larch and spruce-birch forest in river valleys and lake shores at altitudes of 1,400–1,800 m. On dispersal, the Baikal bullfinches visit deciduous forests with a shrubby understorey, riparian forests and thickets of tall weeds.