Rhodospiza obsoleta
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5%
The desert finch (Rhodospiza obsoleta), sometimes called Lichtenstein's desert finch, is a large brown true finch found in southern Eurasia. Its taxonomy is confused, and it has formerly been placed in Fringilla, Bucanetes, Carduelis and Rhodopechys.
Recent research by Zamora et al. (2006) has revealed that the desert finch is more closely related to the greenfinches of the genus Chloris, as indicated by DNA sequence analysis, vocalizations, and the presence of a black eye-stripe. Genetically, it seems very close to the common ancestor of the greenfinches. It may be that the latter evolved from a desert form and later developed the green plumage, or that the common ancestor of the greenfinches and the desert finch (which lived around 6 million years ago) was a species of semiarid habitat which subsequently diverged into a truly desert-adapted lineage, today represented by the desert finch, and the ancestor of a woodlands lineage, the greenfinches.
It has an average wingspan of 26 centimetres (10 in). It has a stout black bill, black and white remiges and rectrices, and a slash of rosy-pink on each wing. The female is more dull in color than the male... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|
More parks will be added in future updates.
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tehran | 🇮🇷 Iran |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Desert Finch sighting in Tehran on a given day, based on 5 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 109th most-seen of the 113 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 Desert Finch in Tehran on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Desert Finch sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only Tehran, in our data
Tehran is the only city on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Desert Finch sightings: under 5% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same family: Fringillidae
The closest relatives of the Desert Finch that you can see in Tehran (family Fringillidae, Finches, Euphonias, and Allies) are Chaffinch (about 40%), European Greenfinch (about 30%) and Common Rosefinch (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Desert Finch is recorded against all the birds logged in Tehran (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.
