Pale Rockfinch

Carpospiza brachydactyla (Bonaparte, 1850)

Pale Rockfinch, Carpospiza brachydactyla, breeds in arid, bushy and broken ground across the Palearctic, from south-east Turkey through Armenia, western and southern Azerbaijan, Iran, southern Turkmenistan and west-central Afghanistan, with scattered populations farther south through Syria to southern Israel and on to northern, central and eastern Arabia, including Kuwait and the Musandam Peninsula. Outside the breeding season it reaches north-east African semidesert and fields, including southern Arabia, eastern Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea, Djibouti and north-east Ethiopia. It is the only species in Carpospiza, and some authorities place it in Petronia or even with the finches.

Order

Passeriformes

Family

Passeridae — Old World Sparrows, Snowfinches

Breeding range

Palearctic: sc Palearctic in arid bushy broken terrain: sc, se Turkey through Armenia and w, s Azerbaijan to Iran, s Turkmenistan and wc Afghanistan, patchily s through Syria to s Israel, to n, c Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Musandam Pen. (n, c, e Arabian Pen.)

Nonbreeding range

to ne African semidesert and fields: s Arabian Pen., e Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea, Djibouti and ne Ethiopia