A brilliantly bright bird, rendered dazzling due to his vivid coat of riotous red!

Meet the Scarlet Finch!

The  scarlet finch ( Carpodacus sipahi) is appropriately named due to the male suit of dazzling red. Generally scarlet in color, they have a smaller bill, a longer tail, being more widely marked than the Rose Finch.

"Scarlet Finch fem – Eaglenest – IndiaFJ0A9331" by fveronesi1 is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

Females and younger birds are generally cloudier in color, but still look familiar due to their greenish–yellow features, creamy rump, and pink-colored bill.

The species name sipahi comes from the Hindustani word sipāhi for a soldier.

These birds are resident in the Himalayas from Uttarakhand India, eastwards, across to Nepal, further east to north-east India, and Southeast Asia as far as Thailand.

These birds like to live in and around temperate forests.

These birds are herbivorous birds, eating seeds, grain, flowers, berries, and buds.

During the breeding season, Scarlet finches built a basket-shaped nest made from scrub, plants, usually placed in the gaps of rocks. The female prefers to mate with the README red males, laying 2 to 6 light blue eggs that hatch after around 13 to 14 days. Once born the checks remain within the nest for the first 2 to 3 weeks of their lives, becoming sexually mature 9 to 12 months after hatching.

These birds are considered as of least concern on the IUCN Red List.

"File:Scarlet Finch Khangchendzonga National park West Sikkim India 30.10.2015.jpg" (cropped) by Dibyendu Ash is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.