Finches
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Finches
The true finches are small to medium-sized passerine birds in the family Fringillidae. Finches generally have stout conical bills adapted for eating seeds and nuts and often have colourful plumage. They occupy a great range of habitats where they are usually resident and do not migrate. They have a worldwide native distribution except for Australia and the polar regions. The family Fringillidae contains more than two hundred species divided into fifty genera. It includes the canaries, siskins, redpolls, serins, grosbeaks and euphonias, as well as the morphologically divergent Hawaiian honeycreepers. Many birds in other families are also commonly called "finches". These groups include the estrildid finches ( Estrildidae) of the Old World tropics and Australia; some members of the Old World bunting family ( Emberizidae) and the New World sparrow family ( Passerellidae); and the Darwin's finches of the Galapagos islands, now considered members of the tanager family (Thraup ...
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Darwin's Finches
Darwin's finches (also known as the Galápagos finches) are a group of about 18 species of passerine birds. They are well known for being a classic example of adaptive radiation and for their remarkable diversity in beak form and function. They are often classified as the subfamily Geospizinae or tribe (biology), tribe Geospizini. They belong to the Thraupidae, tanager Family (biology), family and are not closely related to the true finches. The closest known relative of the Galápagos finches is the South American dull-coloured grassquit (''Asemospiza obscura''). They were first collected when Second voyage of HMS Beagle, the second voyage of the ''Beagle'' visited the Galápagos Islands, with Charles Darwin on board as a gentleman naturalist. Apart from the Cocos finch, which is from Cocos Island, the others are found only on the Galápagos Islands. The term "Darwin's finches" was first applied by Percy Lowe in 1936, and popularised in 1947 by David Lack in his book ''Darwin' ...
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Fringilla
The genus ''Fringilla'' is a small group of eight species of finches from the Old World. It is the only genus in the subfamily Fringillinae. Taxonomy The genus ''Fringilla'' was described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the 10th edition of Systema Naturae, tenth edition of his ''Systema Naturae''. The genus name ''Fringilla'' is Latin for "finch". Linnaeus included 30 species in the genus (''Fringilla zena'' was listed twice) and of these the Eurasian chaffinch (''Fringilla coelebs'') is considered as the type species. Species By the early 20th century, the genus was considered to include just three species, with the other species included by Linnaeus transferred to other genera. In 2016, it was proposed that the extremely rare Gran Canaria blue chaffinch subspecies ''F. teydea polatzeki'' be treated as a separate species, thus accepting a fourth species, ''F. polatzeki''. A major genetic, morphological, and behavioural study in 2021 then divided the former c ...
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Carduelinae
The cardueline finches are a subfamily, Carduelinae, one of three subfamilies of the finch family Fringillidae, the others being the Fringillinae and the Euphoniinae. The Hawaiian honeycreepers are now included in this subfamily. Except for the Hawaiian honeycreepers which underwent adaptive radiation in Hawaii and have evolved a broad range of diets, cardueline finches are specialised seed eaters, and unlike most passerine birds, they feed their young mostly on seeds, which are regurgitated.Newton, 1973, p. 31 Besides this, they differ from the other finches in some minor details of their skull. They are adept at opening seeds and clinging to stems, unlike other granivorous birds, such as sparrows and buntings, which feed mostly on fallen seeds. Some members of this subfamily are further specialised to feed on a particular type of seed, such as cones in the case of crossbills. Carduelines forage in flocks throughout the year, rather than keeping territories, and males defend ...
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Redpolls
The redpoll (''Acanthis flammea'') is a species of small passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae. It is the only species placed in the genus ''Acanthis''. It breeds in the Arctic and north temperate Holarctic tundra and taiga. The redpoll was formerly widely treated as three species: the common or mealy redpoll, the arctic or hoary redpoll (''A. hornemanni''), and the lesser redpoll (''A. cabaret''). Taxonomy The redpoll was listed in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the 10th edition of Systema Naturae, 10th edition of his ''Systema Naturae'' under the Binomial nomenclature, binomial name ''Fringilla flammea''. The specific epithet ''flammea'' is Latin meaning "flame-coloured". Linnaeus also described the redpoll as ''Fringilla linaria'' on the same page, but the earlier name ''flammea'' has priority. The redpoll was previously placed in the genus ''Carduelis''. Molecular phylogenetic studies showed that it formed a distinct Lineage (evolution), lineage ...
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Eurasian Bullfinch
The Eurasian bullfinch, common bullfinch or bullfinch (''Pyrrhula pyrrhula'') is a small passerine bird in the finch family, Fringillidae. In Anglophone Europe it is known simply as the bullfinch (English regional, Shropshire: plum bird), as it is the original bird to bear the name bullfinch. Taxonomy and systematics The Eurasian bullfinch was Species description, formally described in 1758 by Carl Linnaeus, Linnaeus in the 10th edition of Systema Naturae, 10th edition of his ''Systema Naturae'' under the Binomial nomenclature, binomial name ''Loxia pyrrhula''. It is now placed in the genus ''Pyrrhula'' that was introduced in 1760 by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson. The Latin word comes from the Greek (a flame-coloured bird, from , from : Pyrrha), a 'worm eating bird' that is mentioned by Aristotle. The Latin name for the Eurasian bullfinch had been used in 1555 by the Swiss naturalist Conrad Gessner in his ''Historiae animalium (Gesner), Historiae animalium'' ...
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Estrildidae
Estrildidae, or estrildid finches, is a family of small seed-eating passerine birds of the Old World tropics and Australasia. They comprise species commonly known as munias, mannikins, firefinches, parrotfinches and waxbills. They are gregarious and often colonial seed eaters with short, thick, but pointed bills. They are all similar in structure and habits, but vary widely in plumage colours and patterns. All estrildids build large, domed nests and lay five to ten white eggs. Many species build roost nests. Some of the firefinches and pytilias are hosts to the brood-parasitic indigobirds and whydahs, respectively. Most are sensitive to cold and require warm, usually tropical, habitats, although a few, such as the eastern alpine mannikin, mountain firetail, red-browed finch, and the genus ''Stagonopleura'', have adapted to the cooler climates of southern Australia and the highlands of New Guinea. The smallest species of the family is the Shelley's oliveback (''Neso ...
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Estrildid Finch
Estrildidae, or estrildid finches, is a family (taxonomy), family of small seed-eating passerine birds of the Old World tropics and Australasia. They comprise species commonly known as munias, mannikins, firefinches, parrotfinches and waxbills. They are gregarious and often colonial seed predation, seed eaters with short, thick, but pointed bills. They are all similar in structure and habits, but vary widely in plumage colours and patterns. All estrildids build large, domed nests and lay five to ten white eggs. Many species build roost nests. Some of the firefinches and pytilias are hosts to the brood parasitism, brood-parasitic indigobirds and indigobird, whydahs, respectively. Most are sensitive to cold and require warm, usually tropical, habitats, although a few, such as the eastern alpine mannikin, mountain firetail, red-browed finch, and the genus ''Stagonopleura'', have adapted to the cooler climates of southern Australia and the highlands of New Guinea. The smallest ...
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Hawaiian Honeycreeper
Hawaiian honeycreepers are a group of small birds endemic to Hawaii. They are members of the finch family Fringillidae, closely related to the rosefinches (''Carpodacus''), but many species have evolved features unlike those present in any other finch. Their great morphological diversity is the result of adaptive radiation in an insular environment. Many have been driven to extinction since the first humans arrived in Hawaii, with extinctions increasing over the last two centuries following European discovery of the islands, with habitat destruction and especially invasive species being the main causes. Taxonomy Before the introduction of molecular phylogenetic techniques, the relationship of the Hawaiian honeycreepers to other bird species was controversial. The honeycreepers were sometimes categorized as a family Drepanididae,Clements, J. 2007. ''The Clements Checklist of the Birds of the World.'' 6th ed. other authorities considered them a subfamily, Drepanidinae, of Frin ...
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Euphonia
Euphonias are members of the genus ''Euphonia'', a group of Neotropical birds in the finch family. They and the chlorophonias comprise the subfamily Euphoniinae. The genus name is of Greek origin and refers to the birds' pleasing song, meaning "sweet-voiced" ( ''eu'' means "well" or "good" and ''phōnē'' means "sound", hence "of good sound"). Most male euphonias are dark metallic blue above and bright yellow below. Many have contrasting pale foreheads and white undertails. Some have light blue patches on the head and/or orangish underparts. Females much more plain, predominantly olive-green all over. They range in overall length from . They eat small fruit and berries, particularly mistletoe (Loranthaceae). Some species may also eat some insects. Euphonias were once considered members of the tanager family, Thraupidae. A molecular phylogenetic study of the finch family Fringillidae published in 2012 included 9 species from the genus ''Euphonia'' and a single species from th ...
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Serin
''Serinus'' is a genus of small birds in the finch family Fringillidae found in West Asia, Europe and Africa. The birds usually have some yellow in their plumage. The genus was introduced in 1816 by the German naturalist Carl Ludwig Koch. Its name is Neo-Latin for "canary-yellow". Many species were at one time assigned to the genus but it became clear from phylogenetic studies of mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences that the genus was polyphyletic. This was confirmed by Dario Zuccon and coworkers in a comprehensive study of the finch family published in 2012. The authors suggested splitting the genus into two monophyletic groups, a proposal that was accepted by the International Ornithologists' Union. The genus ''Serinus'' was restricted to the European serin and seven other species while a larger clade In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its desce ...
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Siskin
The name siskin when referring to a bird is derived from an adaptation of the German dialect words ''sisschen'', ''zeischen'', which are diminutive forms of Middle High German (''zîsec'') and Middle Low German (''ziseke'', ''sisek'') words, with cognates in Slavic languages, cf. Czech ''čížek''; these names are of onomatopoeic origin. The name siskin was first recorded in written English in 1544 in William Turner's ''Avium praecipuarum, quarum apud Plinium et Aristotelem mentio est, brevis et succincta historia'', referring to the Eurasian siskin ''Spinus spinus''. ''Spinus'' * Andean siskin ''Spinus spinescens'' * Antillean siskin ''Spinus dominicensis'' * Black siskin ''Spinus atratus'' * Black-capped siskin ''Spinus atriceps'' * Black-chinned siskin ''Spinus barbatus'' * Black-headed siskin ''Spinus notatus'' * Eurasian siskin ''Spinus spinus'' * Hooded siskin ''Spinus magellanicus'' * Olivaceous siskin ''Spinus olivaceus'' * Pine siskin ''Spinus pinus'' * Red ...
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