Carduelis caniceps
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5%
The grey-crowned goldfinch (Carduelis caniceps), also known as the eastern goldfinch, Himalayan goldfinch or the grey-capped goldfinch, is a small passerine bird in the family Fringillidae that is distributed throughout Central Asia and the Himalayas.
The genus name Carduelis comes from Linnaeus's specific epithet for the European Goldfinch Fringilla carduelis. Carduelis is the Latin name for the goldfinch. The epithet caniceps is derived from the Latin canus (grey) and caput (head).
The phylogenetic relationships among the Carduelis species are shown below, based on the data by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. The grey-crowned goldfinch separated from the European goldfinch about 1.5 million years ago, in the Quaternary period.
Although first described by Vigors as a distinct species, the grey-crowned goldfinch was until recently widely treated as a subspecies group in the European goldfinch, primarily because it hybridised with it in southwestern Siberia and northern Iran. In 2016, BirdLife International restored its species status, and in 2024, the IOC World Bird List followed suit, accepting it as a separate species because of its very... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|
More parks will be added in future updates.
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tierpark Berlin | 🇩🇪 Germany |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Gray-crowned Goldfinch sighting in Beijing on a given day, based on 5 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 318th most-seen of the 324 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, if each day is a fresh chance.
Any time of year
In every month with enough records, under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Gray-crowned Goldfinch in Beijing on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Gray-crowned Goldfinch sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
4th of 4
Of the 4 cities where we can rate Gray-crowned Goldfinch sightings, Beijing ranks 4th at under 5%. The best odds are in Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan, about 10%), Almaty (Kazakhstan, about 10%) and Srinagar (India, about 10%).
Same family: Fringillidae
The closest relatives of the Gray-crowned Goldfinch that you can see in Beijing (family Fringillidae, Finches, Euphonias, and Allies) are Oriental Greenfinch (about 60%), Brambling (about 30%) and Yellow-billed Grosbeak (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Gray-crowned Goldfinch is recorded against all the birds logged in Beijing (5 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
