The tinkling song and flight call of goldfinches has become much more common in recent years as this extremely pretty bird has benefitted from the rise in birdfeeding – especially sunflower hearts and niger seeds though in the wild their thin bills are ideal for tweezering seeds from thistles and teasel. Goldfinch Male and female goldfinches have very similar plumage/Credit: Getty The greenfinch has been badly affected by trichomoniasis – a respiratory disease that can be spread via birdfeeders. The males wheezed morse code of a song is delivered from tall garden trees and the tops of hedgerows. Greenfinches are common garden visitors and particularly thrive in the suburbs’ blend of leafy streets and commons. Male and female are similar in colour, a palette of yellowy-greens. The species has a powerful bill and the birds love cracking open whole sunflower seeds on birdtables and feeders/Credit: Getty The male’s song is a cascading chuckle sung from large hedgerow trees but he also has a rasping, persistent call that can seem endless on hot summer’s days.Ī frequent visitor to birdtables and often forages on the ground beneath seed and nutfeeders. How to identify finch species Chaffinch A smart male chaffinch – note the slate grey head and brick-red face and chest/Credit: GettyĪ chaffinch is a common bird (Britain’s second most common breeding bird after the wren) of hedgerows, farms, parks and woodland edges – the male’s plumage is a smart blend of slate and terracotta while the female subdued olives and browns. The so-called hedge sparrow is the dunnock and is not related. Britain has two sparrow species: the house sparrow and the rarer tree sparrow. Sparrows share the finches’ basic shape and are closely related but not considered part of the same family. However, buntings are generally ground feeders and are more associated with open habitats while finches tend to feed in trees and shrubs and are more arboreal in nature. resting on the branch of a crab apple tree with spring blossom/Credit: Getty What’s the difference between a bunting and a finch?
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