Scarlet Finch Uttarakhand : Scarlet Finch: The “Red Soldier” of the Himalayas
Scarlet Finch Uttarakhand : Dehradun, August 2, 2025: Once upon a time, mornings began with the sweet chirping of birds. With our changing environment, that delightful sound has become less common. The songs of birds returning to their nests now seem to have faded. Despite this, out of the approximately 1,300 bird species found in India, 722 are also found in Uttarakhand. One of these is the “Red Soldier.”
This soldier, who roams the Himalayan canopy, is called the Scarlet Finch (Carpodacus sipahi). It can often be seen at altitudes ranging from 2,000 to 4,000 meters above sea level in the Himalayan regions. It is also found in Nepal, the hills of Northeast India, and Southeast Asia.
The story behind the name of this bright red bird is quite fascinating. In 1836, an English naturalist named Brian Houghton Hodgson described this bird in his diary and named it Corythus sipahi. This name refers to the uniform worn by soldiers. At that time, the soldiers of the East India Company wore uniforms of this color.
The male Scarlet Finch is a vibrant red, while the female and juvenile birds are less brightly colored. However, they can still be identified by their yellow rump and thick pink beak. Rosefinches are also similarly colored, but they have shorter beaks, longer tails, and are more streaked. The Scarlet Finch lives in hilly and mountainous forests, where they are typically seen in small flocks. They are often seen perched on dry stumps. Their nests are usually cup-shaped, made from grass, roots, and moss. Their eggs are a pale blue-green with some black spots. The female finch incubates the eggs for 12 to 14 days.
