looduskalender.ee

 

 

The male bullfinch often keeps watch at the birdfeeder in order to let the female eat undisturbed; his turn comes only afterwards. The favourite is sunflower seeds. The birds, trusting towards humans, we can see in lilac bushes, and in maples, ashes or rowans and picking at seeds of weeds. Bullfinches don’t eat lard.

 

The crown of an adult bird is black, and the black wings have a broad white band, the rump area is white. Only the male’s cheeks, chest and throat are bullfinch red, the cheeks and chest of the female are pinkish brown and they are a little smaller. The female’s back plumage is patterned in grey with a pink tinge that is a little darker for the male bird. Pay attention – the young birds resemble the females and the head feathers are not black but brownish. They usually live in smaller groups.

 

Bullfinches are about the same weight and size as greenfinches, length more than fifteen centimetres, weight about thirty –forty grams. Their numbers are about a hundred to a couple of hundred thousand individuals all year round.

 

 

 

Bullfinch