Scarlet Finch

The scarlet finch is a small passerine of the finch family found in the Himalaya from Uttarakhand eastwards across Nepal, stretching further east to the adjacent hills of north-east India and Southeast Asia as far south as Thailand. It is resident in the Himalaya, but many birds winter to the immediate south, and its natural habitat is temperate forest. The species name sipahi comes from the Hindustani sipāhi, a soldier, or the Anglicised sepoy, for the red uniform worn by those in the employment of the East India Company (Wikipedia, general species account).

It was formerly placed in the monotypic genus Haematospiza but was moved to the rosefinch genus Carpodacus based on molecular phylogenetic studies. The cached account gives no measurements or breeding information. SoIB 2023 lists it as a resident and altitudinal migrant forest bird that eats plants and seeds, without a priority category (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).