Linaria flavirostris
Silhouette: Oier Frias Abecia · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~60%
The twite (Linaria flavirostris) is a small brown passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae. It is a partially migratory species that is found in a strongly disjunct distribution in northern Europe, and in Asian mountains from eastern Turkey to Nepal, western China and Mongolia. It mainly feeds on small seeds but occasionally also feeds on insects.
In 1758 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus included the twite in the 10th edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Fringilla flavirostris. The twite and the closely related linnets were at one time placed in the genus Carduelis but were moved to the resurrected genus Linaria based on a phylogenetic analysis of mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences that was published in 2012. The genus had originally been described in 1802 by the German naturalist Johann Matthäus Bechstein. The genus name linaria is the Latin for a linen-weaver, from linum, "flax". The specific epithet flavirostris means "yellow-billed".
Nine subspecies are recognised: L... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gobi Gurvansaikhan National Park | 🇲🇳 Mongolia | |
| 2 | Hemis National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 3 | Wadden Sea National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 4 | Biebrza National Park | 🇵🇱 Poland | |
| 5 | Cairngorms National Park | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ulaanbaatar | 🇲🇳 Mongolia | |
| 2 | Saint Petersburg | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 3 | Copenhagen | 🇩🇰 Denmark | |
| 4 | Helsinki | 🇫🇮 Finland |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Twite sighting in Ulaanbaatar on a given day, based on 25 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 31st most-seen of the 63 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 60%, if each day is a fresh chance.
March
In that month about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Twite in Ulaanbaatar on a given day, against about 10% in April, July–September and November–February, the lowest months. That is one of Ulaanbaatar's driest months, with about 5 mm of rain against 70 mm in July.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Twite sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Yes
Of the 4 cities where we can rate Twite sightings, Ulaanbaatar has the highest daily chance: about 10%. Next come Saint Petersburg (Russia, under 5%) and Copenhagen (Denmark, under 5%).
Same family: Fringillidae
The closest relatives of the Twite that you can see in Ulaanbaatar (family Fringillidae, Finches, Euphonias, and Allies) are Long-tailed Rosefinch (about 50%) and Common Rosefinch (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Twite is recorded against all the birds logged in Ulaanbaatar (25 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.
