Black-winged Snowfinch

Montifringilla adamsi Adams, 1859

Black-winged Snowfinch, Montifringilla adamsi, is a passerine in the sparrow family that breeds across the Tibetan Plateau and nearby highland areas from Ladakh through western Tibet to northern Nepal and northern Sikkim, with records also from north-eastern Qinghai, western Gansu, southern to eastern Tibet and south-central Sichuan. Its breeding habitat is alpine steppe near water and villages. Outside the breeding season it is nomadic but stays at high elevations. Adams described the species in 1859.

Order

Passeriformes

Family

Passeridae — Old World Sparrows, Snowfinches

Breeding range

Palearctic: sc Palearctic in Tibetan Plateau alpine steppe near water, villages: Ladakh (nw India) through w Tibet, in s to n Nepal and n Sikkim; ne Qinghai, w Gansu s to e Tibet and sc Sichuan

Nonbreeding range

nomadic but remaining at high elevations