Hooded Siskin (Spinus magellanica)

Identification & Behavior: ~11 cm (4.3 in). The male Hooded Siskin has a black head and a yellow-olive mantled mottle with dusky. The underparts, rump, uppertail coverts, and base of the tail feathers are yellow. The female has a variable plumage being gray or yellowish olive without a black head. In both sexes, the wing is black/dusky with a broad yellow band along the middle. The bill is conical and pointy. It favors scrub, open habitats, and agricultural land. The Hooded Siskin is similar to the Thick-billed Siskin but is distinguished by smaller size, more saturated colors, solid yellow underparts in adult males, smaller bill, and by generally favoring open habitats. It is distinguished from the Yellow-rumped Siskin by a yellower back, tail color, smaller size, and a lack of a black bib.

Status: The Hooded Siskin is the most common and widespread siskin occurring in Peru. It ranges from the western lowlands from sea level up to 4000 m. It ranges on the west and also on the east slope but only at high elevations away from humid forests. The Hooded Siskin also occurs in Co, Ec, Br, Bo, Ch.

Name in Spanish: Jilguero Encapuchado.

Sub-species: Hooded Siskin (Spinus magellanica capitalis), Cabanis, 1866. Andes from WC & S Colombia and C Ecuador S to NW Peru (La Libertad).
(S. m. paula), Todd, 1926. S Ecuador (Milagros) S in W Andes to SW Peru (Arequipa).
(S  m. peruana), Berlepsch and Stolzmann, 1896. C Peru.
(S. m. urubambensis), Todd, 1926. S Peru and N Chile.

Meaning of Name: Spinus: Gr. Spinos= unidentified bird mentioned in ancient Greek writing, usually treated as a type of finch. magellanica: After the Straits of Magellan (named for the Portuguese explorer Fernão de Magalhães (1480-1521), whose Spanish sponsored expedition 1519-1522 was the first circumnavigation of the Earth). In ornithology this toponym includes Tierra del Fuego and associated islands.

Formerly known as Sporagra magellanica (2018).

See more of the Family Fringillidae