[PYRRHULOXIA]

Cardinalis sinuatus

Status:  No accepted records.

Taxonomy:  Three subspecies are recognized, two north of Mexico: fulvescens, resident in southern Arizona, and sinuatus, resident from southern New Mexico to southeast Texas (AviList 2025).

Comments: A bird fitting the description of this species was seen feeding young at Genoa, Nance Co 24 Aug 2000; an apparent female, it had a “large yellow beak and no black on its face.” (Silcock 2000).

Although this species shows little tendency to vagrancy and would seem unlikely to occur in Nebraska, there are eight records for the southern half of Kansas in the period 25 Oct-19 May (Thompson et al 2011, eBird.org, accessed Jul 2025), and four for eastern Colorado Dec-Jun (eBird.org, accessed Jul 2025). The only records north and east of Nebraska are for Montana in Dec, Wisconsin in Oct, and Ontario Dec-Jan (eBird.org, accessed Jul 2025). These records suggest late fall vagrancy northeastwards with attempted winter survival. There is an undocumented report for south-central Wyoming 27 May 1966 (Faulkner 2010).

Literature Cited

AviList Core Team, 2025. AviList: The Global Avian Checklist, v2025. https://doi.org/10.2173/avilist.v2025.

Faulkner, D.W. 2010. Birds of Wyoming. Roberts and Company, Greenwood Village, Colorado, USA.

Silcock, W.R. 2000. Fall Field Report, August-November, 2000. NBR 68: 142-176.

Thompson, M.C., C.A. Ely, B. Gress, C. Otte, S.T. Patti, D. Seibel, and E.A. Young. 2011. Birds of Kansas.  University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, USA.

Recommended Citation

Silcock, W.R., and J.G. Jorgensen.  2025.  Pyrrhuloxia (Cardinalis sinuatus). In Birds of Nebraska — Online. www.BirdsofNebraska.org

Birds of Nebraska – Online

Updated 24 Jul 2025