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Goldfinch, (carduelis carduelis)
Family: Fringillidae.
Length:12.5 to 13cm Wingspan:21 to 25cm Weight: 14 to 17g
Lifespan: 2 to 3 years.
A very striking colourful finch, sexes are very similar in appearance. The males have more red around the eyes and their beaks are slightly larger; juveniles have a grey-brown spotted plumage and lack the red face markings of the adult birds.
The Goldfinch is widespread across Europe, but prefers the warmer climates of Europe; especially favouring the countries around the Mediterranean. It does however live in the cooler damper climate countries of Europe but will not be found further north than mid Scotland in the summer months. Will only be found NE Europe in the summer months, resident elsewhere.Habitat: Prefers to be anywhere near tall flowering plants for their seeds to feed on. Waste grounds, roadside hedges with plenty of weed bearing seeds such as thistles, teasels, also alders and larch. Where it is found further north in farmlands, it favours wooded areas with plenty of wild open ground for seed bearing herbs and shrubs; which unfortunately for finches this is now getting harder to find across the whole of the United Kingdom.
Voice: A varied mixture of blending musical notes with the usual finch chattering sounds, such as “skip-i-lip”, “tililip”.
Feeding: Soft half ripe seeds preferred from all types of low to high growing plants, also eats seeds from alder and birch trees. Early summer will feed on small plants like dandelion and groundsel, in late summer thistles and teasels become their main diet. They will often fly long distances in small flocks to find a food source. Goldfinches are also seen visiting gardens especially where a seed feeder is hanging. It is possible to keep goldfinches to continuously visit the garden, by providing Niger seed in a special feeder; available from most bird food retailers. Water is also essential, especially for seed eating finches; they require more than most other species of birds. Natural sources of a water supply can become difficult to find in the summer months, so bird baths and garden ponds become important factors to a number of finches and sparrows.
Nesting: May to end of July.
Usually nesting high up in trees for security, but will also nest in shrubs with plenty of cover. The nest is deeply cupped and made of grass, mud, wool, and even cobwebs for a well-insulated nest. The exterior will sometimes be camouflaged by lichen, carefully collected from surrounding trees and sometimes various flowers will also be collected to decorate the exterior of the nest.
Two broods a year, starting later in the year than most other garden birds. The young are then able to be raised on the seeds of plants, that mature later in the summer months. Between five to six, smooth glossy and finely spotted; reddish patterned pale blue eggs are laid. The female will incubate the eggs almost continuously for twelve to thirteen days, during this time the male will continuously feed the female, while she remains on the nest. The young are fed mostly on a variety of regurgitated seeds from the surrounding seasonal plants.
The Goldfinch throughout the 19th century was a popular “cage bird” in the UK. Literally hundreds of thousands were taken from the wild. Not until the RSPB, acted against this did the government later pass an act in 1933 to make it illegal for the sale of wild birds; bringing the Goldfinch back from the brink of extinction.
Read MoreFamily: Fringillidae.
Length:12.5 to 13cm Wingspan:21 to 25cm Weight: 14 to 17g
Lifespan: 2 to 3 years.
A very striking colourful finch, sexes are very similar in appearance. The males have more red around the eyes and their beaks are slightly larger; juveniles have a grey-brown spotted plumage and lack the red face markings of the adult birds.
The Goldfinch is widespread across Europe, but prefers the warmer climates of Europe; especially favouring the countries around the Mediterranean. It does however live in the cooler damper climate countries of Europe but will not be found further north than mid Scotland in the summer months. Will only be found NE Europe in the summer months, resident elsewhere.Habitat: Prefers to be anywhere near tall flowering plants for their seeds to feed on. Waste grounds, roadside hedges with plenty of weed bearing seeds such as thistles, teasels, also alders and larch. Where it is found further north in farmlands, it favours wooded areas with plenty of wild open ground for seed bearing herbs and shrubs; which unfortunately for finches this is now getting harder to find across the whole of the United Kingdom.
Voice: A varied mixture of blending musical notes with the usual finch chattering sounds, such as “skip-i-lip”, “tililip”.
Feeding: Soft half ripe seeds preferred from all types of low to high growing plants, also eats seeds from alder and birch trees. Early summer will feed on small plants like dandelion and groundsel, in late summer thistles and teasels become their main diet. They will often fly long distances in small flocks to find a food source. Goldfinches are also seen visiting gardens especially where a seed feeder is hanging. It is possible to keep goldfinches to continuously visit the garden, by providing Niger seed in a special feeder; available from most bird food retailers. Water is also essential, especially for seed eating finches; they require more than most other species of birds. Natural sources of a water supply can become difficult to find in the summer months, so bird baths and garden ponds become important factors to a number of finches and sparrows.
Nesting: May to end of July.
Usually nesting high up in trees for security, but will also nest in shrubs with plenty of cover. The nest is deeply cupped and made of grass, mud, wool, and even cobwebs for a well-insulated nest. The exterior will sometimes be camouflaged by lichen, carefully collected from surrounding trees and sometimes various flowers will also be collected to decorate the exterior of the nest.
Two broods a year, starting later in the year than most other garden birds. The young are then able to be raised on the seeds of plants, that mature later in the summer months. Between five to six, smooth glossy and finely spotted; reddish patterned pale blue eggs are laid. The female will incubate the eggs almost continuously for twelve to thirteen days, during this time the male will continuously feed the female, while she remains on the nest. The young are fed mostly on a variety of regurgitated seeds from the surrounding seasonal plants.
The Goldfinch throughout the 19th century was a popular “cage bird” in the UK. Literally hundreds of thousands were taken from the wild. Not until the RSPB, acted against this did the government later pass an act in 1933 to make it illegal for the sale of wild birds; bringing the Goldfinch back from the brink of extinction.
