Detecting Sillem mountain finches after more than 80 years missing

Sillem mountain finches (Finch Moutain Sillem) were first discovered in 1929, but this is a mysterious bird and it was not until 1992 that researchers identified the bird.

Sliiem mountain finches

The two specimens of the Sillem mountain sparrow were first collected by a Dutch bird researcher, Jerome Alexander Sillem, on an expedition to the Karakoram mountain range in 1929. Today, this is the border area between China, India and Pakistan and do not allow bird researchers to come here. The two bird samples are from a gray and white bird, with a reddish-brown head and a sparrow-sized body. However, the specimen was labeled with the name of a rare mountain sparrow, the Brandt (Leucosticte brandti) sparrow and stored in the drawer of Amsterdam Zoological Museum.

The specimens were stored until 1992 when a Dutch ornithologist, Kees Roselaar, opened the drawer and discovered two bird samples from a particular species. And he named this new species Leucosticte sillemi - after the first founder.

However, the bird was not found until coincidentally, French photographer Yann Muzika captured a photograph in the Yenigou Valley, Qinghai Province, China. Before the night of departure, Yann Muzika happened to have food poisoning so she had to stay at the camp.

He recounted: 'After the 2nd day, I decided to take a day off and explore the area around the camp with possible health permission, which is not a trip to search for birds, but I brought a camera and a 400mm lens' . 'I came across a group of Tibetan Rosefinches and saw that there was a bird that I didn't know what bird it was, a bit like the Brandt mountain finch but had a red head instead of Dark brown like I know about this bird. I took a picture before the bird flew away. '

Yann Muzika searched for information online to identify the bird. He also emailed photos to Krys Kazmierczak, who manages the image of oriental birds (Oriental Bird Images) for the Oriental Bird Club. Then Krys Kazmierczak was surprised when he realized that this is the Sillem mountain species.

Kees Roselaar also identified the bird in the picture above as a Sillem sparrow. He said: 'Interestingly, it proved that the Sillem mountain species still exists'.

The bird found in June 2012 was found to be 1500km east of the location of the species found in 1929 and researchers are continuing to search for this bird.