Twite
The twite (Linaria flavirostris) is a small brown passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae. It is a partially migratory species that is found in a strongly disjunct distribution in northern Europe, and in Asian mountains from eastern Turkey to Nepal, western China and Mongolia. It mainly feeds on small seeds but occasionally also feeds on insects. == Taxonomy == In 1758 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus included the twite in the 10th edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Fringilla flavirostris. 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. The genus had originally been described in 1802 by the German naturalist Johann Matthäus Bechstein. The genus name linaria is the Latin for a linen-weaver, from linum, "flax". The specific epithet flavirostris means "yellow-billed". 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…
Abisko National Park
Norrbottens län, Sweden
+78 birds+13 mammals
Where Arctic tundra meets boreal forest beneath Sweden’s northernmost sky, one of Europe’s most pristine wilderness reserves unfolds across the […]
VIEW NATIONAL PARKVadvetjåkka National Park
Norrbottens län, Sweden
+77 birds+14 mammals
Where raw granite peaks thrust through blankets of boreal forest, the Swedish mountain wilderness reveals itself in its most untamed […]
VIEW NATIONAL PARKDovrefjell-Sunndalsfjella National Park
Trøndelag, Norway
+81 birds+12 mammals
Where alpine plateaus meet ancient mountain ranges, a vast wilderness of windswept ridges and deep valleys unfolds across central Norway. […]
VIEW NATIONAL PARKSchleswig-Holsteinisches Wattenmeer National Park
Germany
+130 birds+21 mammals
Twice daily, the North Sea withdraws from an immense stage of mud, sand, and salt marsh, revealing one of Europe’s […]
VIEW NATIONAL PARKRacha-Lechkhum-Kvemo Svaneti Planned National Park
Zeskho, Georgia
+91 birds+11 mammals
Where granite gorges cut through the southern Caucasus, pristine alpine meadows cascade downward into temperate beech forests of extraordinary primeval […]
VIEW NATIONAL PARKTusheti National Park
Shavtskala, Georgia
+55 birds+8 mammals
Where granite peaks pierce the Caucasian sky at over 4,600 meters, ancient river valleys carve their way through one of […]
VIEW NATIONAL PARKJavakheti National Park
Bozali, Georgia
+148 birds+6 mammals
Dawn breaks over a high-altitude plateau where volcanic peaks pierce the Caucasian sky, their slopes cloaked in alpine meadows that […]
VIEW NATIONAL PARKJiuzhai Valley National Park
Jiuzhaigou County, China
+94 birds+10 mammals
Where turquoise lakes pierce limestone valleys beneath forested ridges, one of China’s most ecologically pristine reserves unfolds across nearly 1,300 […]
VIEW NATIONAL PARKNanda Devi National Park
Garpak, India
+114 birds+11 mammals
Where the Himalayas surge into their most dramatic alpine amphitheater, a wilderness of raw geological power unfolds across 624 square […]
VIEW NATIONAL PARKHemis National Park
Raigahar Dhar, India
+128 birds+20 mammals
Where granite gorges cleave through the Himalayas at dizzying altitudes, a vast wilderness of alpine desert unfolds across the rain […]
VIEW NATIONAL PARKGobi Gurvan Saikhan National Park
Tsagaan Subarga Hural, Mongolia
+36 birds+3 mammals
Where granite gorges slice through rust-colored desert and mountains rise like weathered sentinels across the Gobi’s vast expanse, an extraordinary […]
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