Sharpe’s Rosefinch Carpodacus verreauxii occurs in northeastern Yunnan and adjacent southwestern Sichuan, breeding in thickets and scrub above timberline, also in mountain meadows, to 4600 m; in winter in bamboo thickets, to 2000 m. Male maroon-brown above with black and pink streaking, rump contrastingly pink; pink below, with pink supercilium and pinkish-white spots on greater and median wing coverts and tertials; flight feathers and tail blackish with reddish-brown edging . Female has a prominent buff supercilium, greyish-brown upperparts with bold blackish streaking (including on rump), buff wingbars, and buff edges to tertials. Underparts tawny with heavy blackish streaking to belly. Male dark-rumped rosefinch has much fainter wingbars and tips to tertials and has a dark rump. Female dark-rumped has fainter supercilium, less contrasting dark ear coverts, darker underparts (especially throat, which is also more heavily streaked in sharpe’s), and less prominent pale tips to wing coverts and tertials. . Formerly considered conspecific with spot-winged; spot-wingedis slightly larger, stockier, and larger-billed; male is darker red; female is slightly browner and has fainter streaking, especially on rump. Bill grey-horn; feet pale grey-brown. Piercing call: spink spink. — Craig Brelsford
THE ROSEFINCHES OF CHINA
shanghaibirding.com covers all species in the genus Carpodacus in China. Click any link:
Common Rosefinch Carpodacus erythrinus
Scarlet Finch C. sipahi
Streaked Rosefinch C. rubicilloides
Great Rosefinch C. rubicilla
Red-mantled Rosefinch C. rhodochlamys
Himalayan Beautiful Rosefinch C. pulcherrimus
Chinese Beautiful Rosefinch C. davidianus
Pink-rumped Rosefinch C. waltoni
Pink-browed Rosefinch C. rodochroa
Dark-rumped Rosefinch C. edwardsii
Spot-winged Rosefinch C. rodopeplus
Sharpe’s Rosefinch C. verreauxii
Vinaceous Rosefinch C. vinaceus
Pale Rosefinch C. synoicus
Tibetan Rosefinch C. roborowskii
Sillem’s Rosefinch C. sillemi
Siberian Long-tailed Rosefinch C. sibiricus
Chinese Long-tailed Rosefinch C. lepidus
Pallas’s Rosefinch C. roseus
Three-banded Rosefinch C. trifasciatus
Himalayan White-browed Rosefinch C. thura
Chinese White-browed Rosefinch C. dubius
Red-fronted Rosefinch C. puniceus
Crimson-browed Finch C. subhimachalus
See also:
Taiwan Rosefinch Carpodacus formosanus
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Daniel Bengtsson served as chief ornithological consultant for Craig Brelsford’s Photographic Field Guide to the Birds of China, from which this species description is drawn.
