European Greenfinch

• GeneralIts song ends in a very characteristic nasal wheeze; it opens hard seeds with its conical bill.
• As it is not especially territorial, it builds its nests very close together and will form small breeding colonies.
• When the chicks leave the nest, the male takes charge while the female is already starting the next clutch.
• It colonised the Canaries in the late 1960s, starting with Tenerife and Gran Canaria, and is today on every island except Lanzarote.

Skeleton type

Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (bird)

Habitat and environment

Open woodland, copses, parks and gardens

Size at birth

The chicks leave the nest between 13 and 18 days; the male goes on caring for them while the female tends the second clutch, and there may even be a third

Gestation / incubation

11-15 days, by the female alone, fed by the male

Litter / clutch size

4-6 eggs as a rule, with extremes of 3 to 8; two or three clutches a year between March and August

Sources consulted: SEO/BirdLife (ficha y III Atlas de las aves en época de reproducción en España); IUCN Red List; Asturnatura; Cano-Barbacil y Cano 2022, III Atlas; estudio de 14 temporadas en los naranjales de Sagunto (Ardeola)

Best time: All year round; in spring and summer it sings from wires and high branches, and in winter it forms flocks