Gray-crowned Goldfinch

Gray-crowned Goldfinch

Carduelis caniceps

Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic

Daily sighting probability ~10% · With luck
at Srinagar

In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%

34 Verified sightings at Srinagar
October Best month
☀️ Diurnal When it's spotted

About the Gray-crowned Goldfinch

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 →

Global Distribution

Parks Where Found

# Park Country Daily sighting probability

More parks will be added in future updates.

Cities Where Found

# City Country Daily sighting probability
1 Bishkek 🇰🇬 Kyrgyzstan
~10%
2 Almaty 🇰🇿 Kazakhstan
~10%
3 Srinagar 🇮🇳 India
~10%
4 Beijing 🇨🇳 China
<5%

Zoos & Centres Where Found

# Zoo / Centre Country
1 Tierpark Berlin 🇩🇪 Germany In captivity

Before you go

What are the chances of seeing a Gray-crowned Goldfinch in Srinagar?

With luck

About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Gray-crowned Goldfinch sighting in Srinagar on a given day, based on 34 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 48th most-seen of the 120 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.

When is the best time to see a Gray-crowned Goldfinch in Srinagar?

October

In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Gray-crowned Goldfinch in Srinagar on a given day, against under 5% in March, July–August and November–December, the lowest months. That is one of Srinagar's driest months, with about 25 mm of rain against 100 mm in March.

What time of day is best to see a Gray-crowned Goldfinch?

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.

Is Srinagar the best place to see a Gray-crowned Goldfinch?

Among the best

Of the 4 cities where we can rate Gray-crowned Goldfinch sightings, Srinagar ranks 3rd at about 10%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan, about 10%) and Almaty (Kazakhstan, about 10%).

Where does the Gray-crowned Goldfinch sighting chance come from?

GBIF citizen-science records

It is estimated from how often the Gray-crowned Goldfinch is recorded against all the birds logged in Srinagar (34 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.

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