Tibetan Serin Spinus thibetanus Scientific name definitions

10–12 cm; 10–12 g. Small, thin-billed finch with forked tail. Male has bright olive-green crown and upperparts, with rump and uppertail-coverts yellow or pale greenish-yellow, tail black or blackish-brown, edged bright yellow; bases of greater upperwing-coverts blackish-brown, edged and tipped greenish-yellow, tips of medians also greenish-yellow, flight-feathers blackish, edged greenish-yellow (or yellow on tertial edges), and secondaries finely tipped whitish; lores dusky, supercilium to side of nape and neck yellow, cheek and ear-coverts greenish-yellow, and yellow subocular crescent and moustachial area bordered by narrow greenish-yellow malar stripe; throat and underparts  deep yellow, tinged greenish on breast, and becoming whiter on lower breast to undertail-coverts; iris dark brown or black; bill bluish-grey above, pale flesh-brown below; legs pinkish-brown. Female  is dull olive-green and heavily streaked above, rump and uppertail-coverts pale yellow or tinged green and broadly streaked darker, with dull olive ear-coverts, yellowish cheek and short, broad olive malar stripe; wing and tail as for male, but bases of wing-coverts and flight-feathers more extensively dark olive or blackish, tips of median and greater coverts broadly yellowish-green, and flight-feathers edged lime-green; chin to breast pale lemon-yellow, whiter on lower breast  and belly and pale yellow on undertail-coverts, streaked dark brownish on side of lower breast, flanks and undertail-coverts; bill brown, legs deep brown. Juvenile is similar to female (and not always separable), but generally duller green or tinged buffish above with slight dark streaks, rump and uppertail-coverts dull olive-yellow, wings and tail as on female, but edges of greater coverts and tips of medians and greaters buffish-brown, generally pale light green below, finely streaked darker on breast, belly and flanks; first-year male has contrasting new and old greater upperwing-coverts, narrower and whitish edges of wing-coverts and flight-feathers, and slight streaking on mantle and flanks.

SW & S China (S & SE Tibet; N Yunnan, and W & SW Sichuan), NE India (Arunachal Pradesh), and N Myanmar; non-breeding (perhaps breeds) also N Nepal E to Bhutan and Assam.

Principally seeds, mainly those of alder and birch. Forages either on ground under bushes or in scrub or tops of trees . Active and restless when foraging, often moving some distance between trees. Mostly in pairs and small groups, but in winter also in larger flocks of up to 200 individuals.

Song  an extended version of the twittering call, mostly a nasal buzzing twitter of 2 or 3 notes, "zeezle-eezle-eeze", and interspersed with additional trills, including "ti-ti tweeoo" phrases. Most frequent call a series of soft twittering notes, used for contact among members of flock, also a wheezing "twang" note; in flight a series of twitters and short trills, also a shorter and abrupt "chut-chut-chut".