Black-chinned Siskin

About the Black-chinned Siskin

The black-chinned siskin (Spinus barbatus) is a species of bird in the family Fringillidae, the finches and euphonias. It is found in Argentina, Chile and the Falkland Islands. The black-chinned siskin has a complicated taxonomic history. It was originally described in 1782 with the binomial Fringilla barbata. It was renamed Chrysomitris barbata in 1860. It was tentatively placed in genus Spinus in 1889 and was first proposed with its current binomial in 1909. Between those dates several other putative species were described with different genera but all were eventually determined to be examples what is now Spinus barbatus. Sometime after 1926 genus Spinus was relegated to subgenus status within genus Carduelis. Beginning in about 2009 the subgenus was restored to full genus level and the black-chinned siskin, the rest of the New World siskins, and the New World goldfinches were therefore returned to genus Spinus.

The black-chinned siskin is monotypic. The black-chinned siskin is 12 to 13 cm (4.7 to 5.1 in) long and weighs about 13 to 20 g (0.46 to 0.71 oz). The species is sexually dimorphic. Adult males have black lores, forehead, and... Wikipedia →