Pyrrhuloxia, Cardinalis sinuatus

Pyrrhuloxia, Cardinalis sinuatus fulvescens, Male. Photograph taken within the greater Alamos area, Sonora, March 2017. Photograph and identification courtesy of David F Smith, Alamos, Sonora.

Pyrrhuloxia, Cardinalis sinuatus peninsulae, Males. Photographs taken from within a residential community in the greater Los Cabos area, Baja California Sur, March 2012. Photograph courtesy of Carol Snow, Del Mar, California.

The Pyrrhuloxia, Cardinalis sinuatus fulvescens and Cardinalis sinuatus peninsulae, are two of three subspecies of Pyrrhuloxia, all three of which are found in Mexico. They are a member of the Cardinalidae Family of Cardinals and Allies, which has forty-nine members placed in fourteen genera, and one of three global species of the Cardinalis Genus. They are also known as the Desert Cardinal and in Mexico as cardenal pardo.

The Pyrrhuloxia is a large, crested finch. They are grayish brown to brownish gray in color with a thin crest and deep “parrotlike” yellow bill that has a decurved upper mandible has convex lower edge. They are dimorphic with the adult males having red on their forehead, lores, eye-ring, malar region, crest, and wing-linings, and a red medial stripe on underparts, running from chin to abdomen. The adult females are similar in color to the males but lacks red on face and underparts. Their plumages do not undergo seasonal changes. The adult males have yellow to orange bills during the summer and pale to brown in winter; the females have a similarly colored bill, but they are grayish brown during the winter. Their iris is dark brown, and their legs and feet are a dull light brown.

The Pyrrhuloxia is found in open arid and semiarid desert scrub and riparian washes at elevations up to 2,000 m (6,560 feet). During the winter they forage in mixed flocks. During breeding season the males become highly territorial being aggressive, establish territories and try to attract mates. They are omnivorous with a diet consisting mainly of fruits, insects, and seeds. They have life spans of up to ten years. The Pyrrhuloxia in general, is poorly studied and very little about their biology and behavioral patterns has been documented.

The Pyrrhuloxia is a year-round resident of Mexico being found in along the Pacific Slope in Baja California Sur and Sonora and from the United States boarder south from Chihuahua south to San Luis Potosí and east to Tamaulipas. The fulvescens subspecies is found in Sonora, Sinaloa and western Durango south to northern Nayarit. The peninsulae subspecies is found only in Baja California Sur.

From a conservation perspective the Pyrrhuloxia is currently considered to be of Least Concern with stable, widely distributed populations. Their populations have been significantly negatively impacted by human development in some regions.