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[[image: blackgoodedredsiskin.jpg]]

'''Common Name:''' Black Hooded Red Siskin

'''Scientific Name:''' Carduelis cucullata

'''Size:''' 4 inches (10 cm)

'''Habitat:''' South America. Northern Colombia and northern Venezuela. Found in open country, forest edges and grassland with trees or shrubs

'''Status:''' Endangered. Due to massive, illegal trapping for the cage bird trade. This is an attractive finch with a pleasant song, and its unique coloration for a small finch (most are predominantly yellow) has led to it being used for interbreeding with domesticated Canaries to produce varieties with red in the plumage. The Red Siskin has been protected by the Venezuelan government since the 1940's, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) since 1975, and has been listed as an endangered species by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service since 1976. The United States Fish and Wildlife Service considers any captive bred Siskins (including offspring or any hybridized young) as being protected under the endangered species act. In the US it is unlawful to buy or sell these birds within or across state lines without a captive-bred wildlife endangered specie permit issued by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife. Individual states may require state endangered species or other permits as well.

2007 population: 600-6000 pairs.

'''Diet:''' Seed.

'''Nesting:'''  3-4 greenish white eggs are layed in a grassy cup nest in a tree. The female does all the work. The male may remain with the female through incubation and hatching. 

'''Cool Facts:''' Red Siskins are highly gregarious. When they were more numerous they formed semi-nomadic flocks. 
 
The male has a beautiful visual deep rich vermilion (red) plumage on its breast, belly and under-tail coverts, red also appears on the rump, an upper-tail coverts, wing bars, and appears on the back of the neck which blends to gray on the back. The head, chin, throat, flight feathers, and tail are black. White appears around the vent, under-wing-coverts, and legs. The adult female holds all similar markings as the male with the exception of the black hood. The red coloring on the female only appears on the upper portion of the breast, and appears on the wing bars, rump, and sometimes the under-tail coverts.

'''Found in [http://www.daz3d.com/i.x/shop/itemdetails/-/?item=5607&cat=421;refid=653438178 More Threatened Endangered Extinct]'''