Overview
Greenfinches are quite sociable flocking birds, and will often form large flocks with other finches in winter. The greenfinch is a common species found in parks, gardens, orchards and woodland edge. They are common in the countryside but are also regularly found close to man in towns, villages and farmland. It is hardy and resident throughout the year in Britain, but some of the population migrate south and west into other parts of Europe in winter. They are only absent from upland areas without trees and substantial bushes such as north-west Scotland and the Northern Isles of Scotland. The greenfinch can be quite a wary shy bird. They nest in trees and thick bushes, and the nest is a cup made of twigs and roots, with a soft lining of feathers and hair. The diet is seeds and insects: they are adapted to feed on slightly larger seeds of various plants, trees and shrubs, such as rose hips and cereal grains. Adults feed mostly on seeds whilst the food supplied to young in the nest is crushed seeds topped-off with the occasional caterpillar or spider.
Description
The greenfinch is the largest of the three commonest finches seen in the UK, being heavier and of stouter build than both the chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs) and goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis). They have a chunky appearance with a plump body, large head and large solid bill.
Greenfinches can be recognised also by the yellow edges to the flight feathers of the wings (‘primaries’) which form a yellow panel or stripe when the wings are closed. The rest of the plumage is mainly dark greenish , but the brightness of this colour varies between the sexes and time of year, as well as between individual birds. The male has a yellowish-green breast, greyish-green upperparts and head, with grey in the wings and cheeks (side of the face) and black wing and tail tips. The female has a duller version of the male’s plumage. The other two mainly green and yellow finches in Britain, the siskin (Carduelis spinus) and serin (Serinus serinus) are smaller and much slimmer birds compared with greenfinch. Both are far less common in this country.
Call & Song: greenfinches sound very nasal, as if they sing through their noses or with a cold! The main call is a quiet abrupt ‘chichichit’. The song is a dry twittering trill with a drawn-out wheeze at the end, sounding not unlike he is saying ‘gr-e-e-e-e-e-n’ – which is a rather handy identification feature for this species!
Latin name: Carduelis chloris
Size: 14 – 16 cm
In the garden
The greenfinch is a popular and regular visitor to gardens, especially in winter. While still not uncommon in the countryside and farmland, they have been able to take advantage of food in town and city gardens when intensive agriculture has deprived them of many weed seeds in the countryside. Though generally sociable, their table-manners can leave a lot to be desired… as they may argue amongst themselves or with other birds when at the bird table. They particularly like black sunflower seeds, easily and expertly removing the outer husk with their strong bill. Greenfinches are messy feeders however. If a garden feeder they are feeding on contains a seed mix, they will happily hang there throwing all the other seeds onto the floor to get to their beloved black sunflower seeds! They also feed on peanuts and were in fact one of the first species to learn to feed from the red plastic peanut nets we commonly put up in our gardens.
Did You Know?
The male greenfinch performs an entertaining and distinctive territorial display flight where he patrols his territory with stiff wings, looking not unlike a clockwork or wind-up toy bird!!
Want to find out how to attract greenfinches to your garden? Check out our tips on bird food, setting up your bird feeders and making a bird box!