Blanford's Snowfinch

Pyrgilauda blanfordi (Hume, 1876)

≈15 cmLength24 gWeight

This snowfinch of alpine grasslands often occurs around cattle and sheep pens and in areas with many rodent burrows.

Busiest months: June · Most records: China

Least Concern

How to identify

Where and when it's recorded

Busiest months: June · Most records: China

Blanford's Snowfinch has been recorded at 23 of the 8,276 birding hotspots we track, in 1 country or region.

Records by month Northern Hemisphere

Where it's recorded most

Chaka Salt LakeChina44 records
Chaka – Outskirt MarshChina12 records
Wild Yak GorgeChina12 records

More places

Chaka ValleyChina12 records
Rubber Mountain PassChina10 records
Arid Country W of ChakaChina9 records
E'La Mountain PassChina9 records
Namtso LakeChina7 records
Qinghai Lake – K11 hillChina4 records
MachaliChina3 records

Countries and regions with the most records

China

eBird records via GBIF up to 2024-12-31. A record means someone listed it; more records partly mean more birders, not more birds.

About

Blanford's snowfinch (Pyrgilauda blanfordi) or the plain-backed snowfinch, is a species of bird in the sparrow family.

Excerpt from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · authors · Read more on Wikipedia

Questions

How big is the Blanford's Snowfinch?

The Blanford's Snowfinch is about ≈15 cm long and weighs around 24 g.

Where does the Blanford's Snowfinch live?

Its breeding range: Palearctic: south-central Palearctic in Tibetan Plateau alpine stony and grassy steppe: southeastern Xinjiang east through Qinghai, in south from northern, eastern Ladakh, northern Nepal, northern Sikkim east to northwestern Sichuan. It is most often recorded in China.

When is the best time to see the Blanford's Snowfinch?

At the hotspots we track, it is recorded most in June (Northern Hemisphere).

Is the Blanford's Snowfinch endangered?

The IUCN Red List classifies the Blanford's Snowfinch as Least Concern.

What does the Blanford's Snowfinch eat?

Main food: Seeds.

What family is the Blanford's Snowfinch in?

It belongs to the family Old World Sparrows, Snowfinches (Passeridae), order Passerines (Passeriformes).

At a glance

Length: ≈15 cm
Weight: 24 g
Habitat: Grassland
Diet: Seeds
Lifestyle: Active on the ground
Migration: Partial migrant
Conservation: Least Concern

More measurements

Wing: 94 mm
Tail: 55 mm
Bill: 12 mm
Tarsus: 19 mm

Averages from the AVONET dataset; length from field guides where available.

Range

Palearctic: south-central Palearctic in Tibetan Plateau alpine stony and grassy steppe: southeastern Xinjiang east through Qinghai, in south from northern, eastern Ladakh, northern Nepal, northern Sikkim east to northwestern Sichuan

Breeding range, IOC World Bird List 15.2

Subspecies · 3

Pyrgilauda blanfordi barbata e Qinghai
Pyrgilauda blanfordi ventorum se Xinjiang to nw Qinghai
Pyrgilauda blanfordi blanfordi Tibet, n, e Ladakh, n Nepal, n Sikkim to s Qinghai