Altai Accentor

The Altai accentor, also known as the rufous-streaked or Himalayan accentor, is a relatively large accentor, 15–15.5 cm long, with a grey head, a white throat framed by black spots and a chestnut-brown back and mantle with dark streaks. The wings are rusty brown with two distinct white wing bars, and the underside is white with rusty red spots on the breast and flanks (Wikipedia, general species account).

It breeds in mountainous regions from southern Russia (the Altai east to the mountains east of Lake Baikal) and north-western Mongolia south to the Tien Shan, Pamir and north-eastern Afghanistan, on sparsely vegetated, rocky alpine meadows at 2,800–5,000 m, and winters in the southern Tian Shan and Himalayan ranges. SoIB 2023 rates it a Moderate conservation priority, a winter migrant of open habitat that eats invertebrates, with a Restricted range of about 28,200 km² and insufficient data on trends (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).