The bird is the size of a starling, densely built, with a thick, short, slightly hooked beak and a relatively long carved tail. The males have raspberry head, back and chest, the abdomen is gray, the wings and tail are dark brown, on the shoulder there are narrow white stripes. In females and young birds, the raspberry color is replaced by a dirty yellow. It usually feeds on trees.
The popular names for Schur - “Finnish rooster” or “Finnish parrot” - are associated with the bright colors of males.
The song is beautiful sonorous trills, the scream is the sonorous “I-loo”.
Schur arrives at the end of March, and from April you hear shouts of fighting birds (“re-re-re”).
Large, no less than starling, thick-billed birds swarm on juniper tops, plucking black berries. Old males are beautifully distinguished by their almost continuous crimson-red color. Females and young (one-two-year-old) males are pinkish-yellow, with more prominent streaks. White rims of feathers flicker in the wings. A quiet roll call is heard from all sides: “Ki-ki-ki”, somewhat similar to a bullfinch. Only when alarmed or about to take off, do the buzzers make their trembling whistle: "view", which draws attention to the flying flock.
Nesting at Schurov begins only in June. At this time, the males loudly whistle their flute iridescent song, similar to the often repeated urges. Some kind of sad, melancholic hue is heard in it, although the singers are very lively and behave much more fluidly than during the winter wanderings. The nest is arranged quite roughly from various stems and coniferous branches, with a softer inner lining. The eggs are large (24–26 mm long), bluish, with dark brown spots. In masonry, there are usually no more than 3-4 pieces.
The following subspecies of common Schur are distinguished [2] :
- Pinicola enucleator alascensis ridgway , 1898
- Pinicola enucleator californica Price, 1897
- Pinicola enucleator carlottae Brooks, 1922
- Pinicola enucleator enucleator (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Pinicola enucleator eschatosa Oberholser, 1914
- Pinicola enucleator flammula Homeyer, 1880
- Pinicola enucleator kamtschatkensis (Dybowski, 1883)
- Pinicola enucleator leucura (Müller, 1776)
- Pinicola Enucleator Montana Ridgway, 1898
- Pinicola enucleator pacatus Bangs, 1913
- Pinicola enucleator sakhalinensis Buturlin, 1915
