Mongolian Finch (Bucanetes mongolicus)
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Mongolian Finch

Bucanetes mongolicus (Swinhoe, 1870)

≈15 cmLength22 gWeight

In the breeding season, the male has a pink wash on the face, underside and wings.

Busiest months: May · Most records: Mongolia, Kazakhstan, China

Least Concern

How to identify

Field marks

  1. Head large, bill short and stout, gray-yellow
  2. Male in the breeding season: pink wash on the face and underside
  3. Male in the breeding season: large areas of white and pink on the upperwing

Male, female and young

The female’s pink is very faint and barely visible; the male’s pink-and-white wing patches are also paler in the non-breeding season.

Voice

Calls are various rising nasal notes and twitters; the song mixes these notes together.

Where and when it's recorded

Mongolian Finch has been recorded at 60 of the 8,171 birding hotspots we track, in 5 countries and regions.

Records by month Northern Hemisphere

Where it's recorded most

  1. Sogeti Valley – Drinking Pool and Surrounding PlainsKazakhstan129 records
  2. Khovd Bird Ringing Station, Khovd, MNMongolia81 records
  3. Yolyn Am, Umnugobi, MNMongolia79 records
More places
  1. Khar Chuluut Valley, Jargalant Mountain, Mankhan, Khovd, MNMongolia56 records
  2. LongyangxiaChina27 records
  3. Khongorin ElsMongolia23 records
  4. Boon Tsagan NuurMongolia15 records
  5. KanshengelKazakhstan12 records
  6. Chaka ValleyChina11 records
  7. BeishawoChina11 records

Countries and regions with the most records

MongoliaKazakhstanChinaKyrgyzstanTürkiye

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

The Mongolian finch (Bucanetes mongolicus), also known as the Mongolian trumpeter finch, is a small passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae.

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

Questions

How big is the Mongolian Finch?

The Mongolian Finch is about ≈15 cm long and weighs around 22 g.

Where does the Mongolian Finch live?

Its breeding range: Palearctic: Iran to southern Russia, Mongolia and northern China. It is most often recorded in Mongolia, Kazakhstan and China.

When is the best time to see the Mongolian Finch?

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

Is the Mongolian Finch endangered?

The IUCN Red List classifies the Mongolian Finch as Least Concern.

What does the Mongolian Finch eat?

Main food: Seeds.

What family is the Mongolian Finch in?

It belongs to the family Finches, Euphonias (Fringillidae), order Passerines (Passeriformes).

At a glance

Length
≈15 cm
Weight
22 g
Habitat
Desert
Diet
Seeds
Lifestyle
Active on the ground
Migration
Partial migrant
Conservation
Least Concern
More measurements
Wing
85 mm
Tail
60 mm
Bill
11 mm
Tarsus
18 mm

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

Range

Palearctic: Iran to southern Russia, Mongolia and northern China

Breeding range, IOC World Bird List 15.2

Classification

Order
Passerines Passeriformes
Family
Finches, Euphonias Fringillidae
Genus
Bucanetes

Other birds in the genus Bucanetes

Trumpeter FinchTrumpeter FinchBucanetes githagineusEurasian ChaffinchEurasian ChaffinchFringilla coelebsAfrican ChaffinchAfrican ChaffinchFringilla spodiogenysAzores ChaffinchAzores ChaffinchFringilla morelettiMadeira ChaffinchMadeira ChaffinchFringilla maderensisCanary Islands ChaffinchCanary Islands ChaffinchFringilla canariensisTenerife Blue ChaffinchTenerife Blue ChaffinchFringilla teydeaGran Canaria Blue ChaffinchGran Canaria Blue ChaffinchFringilla polatzekiBramblingBramblingFringilla montifringillaBlack-and-yellow GrosbeakBlack-and-yellow GrosbeakMycerobas icterioides
Mongolian Finch

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Free to use with credit: “Illustration: Bird Album (birdalbum.com)”. Drawn by AI from a reference photo by Владимир Панкратов. ↗

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