Ethiopian Siskin - BirdForum Opus

Photo by volker sthamer
Debre Libanos, Ethiopia, 7 January 2011

Alternative names: Black-headed Siskin; Abyssinian Siskin

Serinus nigriceps

Identification

11–12·5 cm (4¼-5 in)

• Black head, throat and neck
• Notch tip of tail

Distribution

Female
Photo © by MacNara
Bahir Dar, Ethiopia, 30 December 2011

Eastern Africa: found in alpine moorlands of northern and central Ethiopia

Taxonomy

This is a monotypic species^[1].

Habitat

Tropical and subtropical alpine moorlands to around 4000m

Behaviour

Diet

The yellow lower mandible suggests that this is a juvenile
Photo © by monkir
Bale Mountains, Ethiopia, November 2018

Their diet consists almost entirely of plant and tree seeds.

References

1. Clements, J. F., P. C. Rasmussen, T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, A. Spencer, S. M. Billerman, B. L. Sullivan, M. Smith, and C. L. Wood. 2024. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2024. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. Lepage D. (2020) - Avibase. Retrieved 25 October 2020
3. Clement, P. (2020). Ethiopian Siskin (Serinus nigriceps), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.abysis1.01

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Ethiopian Siskin. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 12 May 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Ethiopian_Siskin

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