Taiwan Bullfinch

Pyrrhula owstoni Rothschild & Hartert, EJO, 1907

15 cmLength19 gWeight

This small bullfinch is endemic to Taiwan (China) and often occurs in pairs or in flocks.

Looks like Brown Bullfinch, Grey-headed Bullfinch

How to identify

Field marks

Black triangular patch on the face
Body length about 15 cm

Male, female and young

Male has a mouse-gray back, throat, breast and coverts; these areas are pale brown in the female.

Similar species

Brown Bullfinch

The 2 were formerly confused in Taiwan (China), a confusion only resolved in a 1935 publication; the source gives no specific identification features.

Grey-headed Bullfinch

Taiwan Bullfinch was formerly treated as a subspecies of Grey-headed Bullfinch; a 2020 DNA analysis finally confirmed it as a distinct species endemic to Taiwan (China).

Where and when it's recorded

No records at the public birding hotspots we track. It may be rare, remote, or its locations protected.

About

The Taiwan (China) bullfinch (Pyrrhula owstoni) is a species of finch in the family Fringillidae. It is endemic to the mountains of Taiwan (China). It was previously considered a subspecies of the grey-headed bullfinch (P. erythaca) and most authorities consider it as such, but a 2020 study found it to represent a distinct species that diverged from the mainland Asian P. erythaca during the mid-Pleistocene, and the International Ornithological Congress accepted it as such.

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