The European Goldfinch is a small
passerine bird in the finch family that is native to Europe, North Africa and
western Asia and has been introduced to other areas including Australia, New
Zealand and Uruguay. This beautiful small bird is found in open, partially
wooded lowlands and is a resident in the milder west of its range, but migrates
from colder regions. The goldfinch will also make local movements, even in the
west, to escape bad weather. The bird is breeds in mixed woodland, orchards,
parks, commons, gardens and pine plantations where there are thistles and other
plants that produce seeds. The goldfinch size is about 12 to 13 cm long with a
wingspan is 21 to 25 cm and a weight of 14 to 19 gram.
The both sexes are broadly akin,
however the goldfinch has a red face and a black-and-white head and back and
flanks are buff or chestnut brown. Moreover the black wings have a broad yellow
bar. The tail is black and the rump is white. Therefore, the female bird is
very alike to the male but has a slightly smaller red area on the face. Goldfinches
will display to each other during spring by singing and swaying their wings
from side to side. The song is an enjoyable silvery twittering, however the
call is a melodious tickeLLIT, and the song is a pleasant tinkling medley of
trills and twitters, but always including the trisyllabic call phrase or a teLLLIT-teLLIT-teLLLIT.
The Male goldfinches are the only birds that can extract seeds from teasel
heads by clinging to the stem and probing with their long, pointed bill. Thus,
females have shorter beaks and so they are unable to exploit teasel heads.
In the autumn, when seed heads
are common, goldfinches have a broad diet, feeding on groundsels, ragworts and
dandelions as well as the favorite teasels and knapweeds. Therefore, outside of
the breeding season, goldfinches travel in flocks in search of food during the
day. The goldfinch is habitually depicted in Italian renaissance paintings of
the Madonna and Child. Antonio Vivaldi composed a Concerto in D major for Flute
"Il Gardellino" where the singing of the goldfinch is imitated by a
flute. The goldfish is classified as Least Concern (LC) on the IUCN Red List
and included in the Birds of Conservation Concern Amber List (medium
conservation concern).
