twite

In 1758 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus included the twite in the 10th edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Fringilla flavirostris.{{ cite book | editor-last=Paynter | editor-first=Raymond A. Jnr. | year=1968 | title=Check-list of Birds of the World | volume=14 | publisher=Museum of Comparative Zoology | place=Cambridge, Massachusetts | page=253 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14481454}}{{cite book | last=Linnaeus | first= C. | author-link= Carl Linnaeus | year=1766 | title= Systema Naturæ per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis, Volume 1| volume= 1 | edition=10th | page=182 | publisher=Holmiae:Laurentii Salvii | language = la | url= https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/727089}} 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.{{cite journal | last1=Zuccon | first1=Dario | last2=Prŷs-Jones | first2=Robert | last3=Rasmussen | first3=Pamela C. | last4=Ericson | first4=Per G.P. | year=2012 | title=The phylogenetic relationships and generic limits of finches (Fringillidae) | journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution | volume=62 | issue=2 | pages=581–596 | doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2011.10.002 | url=http://www.nrm.se/download/18.9ff3752132fdaeccb6800010935/Zuccon%20et%20al%202012.pdf | pmid=22023825}} The genus had originally been described in 1802 by the German naturalist Johann Matthäus Bechstein.{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela C. Rasmussen | date=December 2023 | title=Finches, euphonias | work=IOC World Bird List Version 14.1 | url=http://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/finches/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=7 July 2024}} The genus name linaria is the Latin for a linen-weaver, from linum, "flax". The specific epithet flavirostris means "yellow-billed".{{cite book | last= Jobling | first= James A. | year= 2010| title= The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | url= https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling | publisher=Christopher Helm | location = London, United Kingdom | isbn = 978-1-4081-2501-4 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling/page/n161 161], [https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling/page/n227 227] }}

Nine subspecies are recognised:

• L. f. pipilans (Latham, 1787) – north Ireland and north Britain (syn. L. f. bensonorum)
• L. f. flavirostris (Linnaeus, 1758) – north Scandinavia and northwest Russia
• L. f. brevirostris (Bonaparte, 1855) – Turkey, the Caucasus and north Iran
• L. f. kirghizorum (Sushkin, 1925) – north, central Kazakhstan
• L. f. korejevi (Zarudny & Härms, 1914) – northeast Kazakhstan to northwest China
• L. f. altaica (Sushkin, 1925) – southwest Siberia and north, west Mongolia
• L. f. montanella (Hume, 1873) – Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, north Afghanistan and northwest Pakistan to northwest China (syn. L. f. pamirensis)
• L. f. miniakensis (Jacobi, A, 1923) – east Tibet and west China
• L. f. rufostrigata (Walton, 1905) – west, south Tibet, north India and north Nepal

File:Twite (Carduelis flavirostris) (49029781732).jpg

The twite is similar in size and shape to a linnet, at {{convert|13|to|13.5|cm|in|abbr=on}} long. It lacks the red head patch and breast shown by the linnet and the redpolls. It is brown streaked with black above; adult males also have a pink rump, immatures and females a brown rump. The underparts are buff to whitish, streaked with brown. The conical bill is yellow in winter and grey in summer.{{ cite book | last1=Collar | first1=N.J. | last2=Newton | first2=I. | last3=Clement | first3=P. | year=2010 | chapter=Family Fringillidae (Finches) | editor1-last=del Hoyo | editor1-first=J. | editor2-last=Elliott | editor2-first=A. | editor3-last=Christie | editor3-first=D.A. | title=Handbook of the Birds of the World | volume=15: Weavers to New World Warblers | location=Barcelona, Spain | publisher=Lynx Edicions | isbn=978-84-96553-68-2| pages=440–617 [566-567] | chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/handbookofbirdso0015unse/page/566/mode/1up | chapter-url-access=registration }} The call is a very distinctive nasal twaa-it, from which its name derives,{{cite book | last=Hume | first=Rob | last2=Still | first2=Robert | last3=Swash | first3=Andy | last4=Harrop | first4=Hugh | last5=Tipling | first5=David | title=Britain's Birds | publisher=Princeton University Press | publication-place=Princeton, New Jersey | date=2016-09-06 | isbn=978-0-691-15889-1 | oclc=919479526 | page=}} and the song contains fast trills and twitters.{{harvnb|Clement|Harris|Davis|1993|pages= 246–247}} Twite often form large flocks outside the breeding season, sometimes mixed with other finches on coasts and salt marshes. They feed mainly on seeds.

The subspecies vary in plumage tone, with L. f. pipilans of the hyper-humid oceanic climate of Britain and Ireland the darkest (following Gloger's rule) and nominate L. f. flavirostris in Scandinavia the next darkest. The Asian subspecies, found in much drier mountain habitats, are much paler.{{cite book | last=Svensson | first=Lars | title=Identification guide to European passerines | publisher=L. Svensson | publication-place=Stockholm | date=1992 | isbn=91-630-1118-2 | pages=297–298}}

The twite breeds in northern Europe and across the Palearctic to Siberia and China. Alpine grassland and low shrubland is favoured for breeding; in the Asian part of its range, it breeds at high to very high altitudes, from 3,600–4,900 m,{{cite book | last1=Kazmierczak | first1=Krys | last2=Perlo | first2=Ber van | title=A field guide to the birds of the Indian subcontinent | publisher=Yale University Press | publication-place=New Haven | date=2000 | isbn=0-300-07921-4 | page=300}} but in the much cooler oceanic climate summers of northwestern Europe, it breeds much lower, and down to sea level in northwestern Ireland, western and northern Scotland, and Norway; here it is strongly associated with traditional low-intensity farming on coastal machair grassland.{{cite journal | last=Wilkinson | first=Nicholas I. | last2=Wilson | first2=Jeremy D. | title=Breeding ecology of Twite Carduelis flavirostris in a crofting landscape | journal=Bird Study | volume=57 | issue=2 | date=2010-05-01 | issn=0006-3657 | doi=10.1080/00063650903449938 | doi-access=free | pages=142–155 | url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00063650903449938?needAccess=true | access-date=2025-03-14}}

It is partially resident and in winter many birds migrate further south, or move to the coasts.{{harvnb|Newton|1973}} It has declined sharply in parts of its range, notably in Ireland.{{cite web|url=http://www.birdlife.org/europe-and-central-asia/news/irish-twite-danger|title=Irish Twite danger|author=BirdWatch.Ireland|publisher=BirdLife International|access-date=12 August 2014|work=BirdLife Europe}}

File:Linaria flavirostris MHNT 223 Ecosse.jpg

The female builds a nest either on the ground or low down in a bush, laying 3–6 eggs. The eggs are light or dark blue in colour with variable dark purplish-brown specs or blotches which are mainly concentrated around the broad end. They are laid daily and measure {{cvt|17.4|x|13.2|mm}}. They are incubated by the female for 12–13 days. The young are fed and cared for by both parents and fledge when aged 11 to 12 days. They continue to be fed for a further two weeks after leaving the nest.{{sfn|Cramp|1994|pp=636-637}}

In the UK, the twite is the subject of several research projects in the Pennines, the Scottish Highlands and on the North Wales and Lancashire coastlines. Records show that the birds to the east of the Pennine hills move to the southeast coast in winter and those to the west winter between Lancashire and the Hebrides. The Welsh population winters almost exclusively in Flintshire. Ringing data has revealed that twite breeding in different parts of Britain use different non‐breeding areas, and that non-breeding areas of British twite do not overlap with non-breeding areas of continental twite.{{cite journal | author1= Dunning, J. |author2= Finch, T. | author3= Davison, A. | author4 = Durrant, K.L. | year=2020 | title= Population‐specific migratory strategies of Twite Linaria flavirostris in Western Europe | journal=Ibis| volume=162| pages = 273–278 | doi= 10.1111/ibi.12791 | issue=2| doi-access= }}

{{Reflist}}

{{Refbegin}}

• {{Cite book|last1=Clement|first1=Peter|last2=Harris|first2=Alan|last3=Davis|first3=John|title = Finches and Sparrows: An Identification Guide|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=1993|location=Princeton, New Jersey|isbn=0-691-03424-9}}
• {{ cite book | editor1-last=Cramp | editor1-first=Stanley | display-editors=etal | editor1-link=Stanley Cramp | year=1994 | chapter=Carduelis flavirostris Twite | title=Handbook of the Birds of Europe the Middle East and North Africa. The Birds of the Western Palearctic | volume=VIII: Crows to Finches | location=Oxford | publisher=Oxford University Press | pages=625-639 | isbn=978-0-19-854679-5 }}
• {{Cite book|last=Newton|first=Ian|title=Finches|series=The New Naturalist Library 55|publisher=Taplinger|year=1973|location=New York|isbn=0-8008-2720-1}}

{{Refend}}

{{Commons category|Linaria flavirostris}}

• [http://www.oiseaux.net/birds/photos/twite.html Oiseaux] Photos
• [http://www.xeno-canto.org/species/Linaria-flavirostris Audio recordings from Xeno-canto]

{{Taxonbar|from=Q10965357}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Birds described in 1758

Category:Birds of Eurasia

Category:Birds of Europe

Category:Birds of Norway

Category:Linaria (bird)

Category:Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus