Where bullfinches breed chicks. The bullfinch is a trusting bird

The bullfinch or common bullfinch (lat. Pyrrhula pyrrhula) is a species of songbirds of the passerine order, the finch family and the bullfinch order of the same name.

Bullfinch in May

In Latin, the name of the bird means "fiery". The bullfinch got its Russian name from the Turkic word "snig", which means "red-breasted". And the bullfinches got their modern name thanks to a sign: bright birds with a red-pink belly become especially noticeable with the imminent onset of cold weather.

Bullfinch in the branches

The modern classification distinguishes 3 subspecies of bullfinches living in Russia and 5 foreign subspecies, which differ in the shade of plumage.

What does a snowman look like?

The size of the bullfinch is slightly larger than the sparrow and has a dense physique. The body length of an adult bird is 18 cm, with a mass of not more than 34 g. The wingspan of a bullfinch is 23-30 cm.

Head and beak of a bullfinch close-up

The beak is wide and thick, the Caucasian bullfinch is especially swollen. The legs are strong, with three toes ending in sharp claws. The tail is proportional, of medium length. The plumage is dense, with a well-developed downy layer.

The shoulders and neck of females and males are painted in gray or gray-blue. Males are distinguished by a gray back, females are brown-brown. The head of adults is decorated with a black cap, the wings are intensely black with a blue metallic sheen. The uppertail, as well as the feathers under the tail, are painted white. In males, the lower part of the neck, cheeks, sides and abdomen are bright red, in females they are gray-brown.

Chicks are characterized by buffy-brown plumage, a black cap appears at the age of six months, after the first molt.

Range and lifestyle of bullfinches

In summer, it is difficult to notice a bullfinch; birds prefer to live in dense forests and light forests. But in winter, the birds are clearly distinguishable against the background of snow and bare tree branches. The range of bullfinches passes through all European countries, covers the Front and East Asia, through Siberia, to the Kamchatka region and Japan. In Russia, the bullfinch can be found in all forests, as well as in forest-steppes where coniferous trees grow.

Most bullfinches lead a sedentary lifestyle. The nomadic population leaves the taiga in winter and moves to the Central Asian countries and Eastern China.

What do bullfinches eat?

The diet of bullfinches consists of seeds and buds of plants, as well as small insects, mainly arachnids. Most of the food is berries, especially mountain ash and bird cherry. At what, bullfinches only peck out grains, and spit out the pulp.

The bright plumage of birds is partly due to the predilection for foods rich in carotenoids. Bullfinches also feed chicks mainly on plant foods, with a small addition of insects and berries.

Bullfinch breeding

Bullfinches are flocking birds that break into pairs during the breeding season. The mating season begins in March - April, when in the forests you can hear the melodic trills of males and the whistle of females in response.

Males zealously look after their chosen ones, yielding the best branches of berries. But mostly because of fear, because the females of the bullfinch are distinguished by their harsh disposition and are much stronger than the males.

Nests are located in coniferous and mixed forests with a predominance of spruce forests. Nests, resembling bowls, are arranged in spruce paws, at a height of 1.5 to 5 meters from the ground. The walls of the nest are skillfully woven from thin twigs, the bottom is lined with moss and last year's foliage. The nest is 20 cm in diameter and about 8 cm high.

In early May, the female lays from 4 to 7 bluish, dark brown speckled eggs. The incubation period lasts about 15 days, after which offspring are born, which caring parents tirelessly feed for 2 weeks.

While the chicks are learning to fly, their parents continue to feed them, and at the age of one month, the children are ready for independent living. Adult, bright plumage, young bullfinches acquire in the fall, after the first molt.

A young bullfinch eats chokeberry and looks at the photographer with apprehension

Under favorable conditions, the bullfinch can live up to 15 years, but in severe winters, with a lack of food, many birds, unfortunately, die.

An interesting fact: among the people, bullfinches are called mockingbirds, because of their amazing ability to imitate the voices of other birds and even the creaking of trees.

These cute birds with bright plumage have always been of interest to ornithologists and all bird lovers. True, you can admire their bright color only in winter, and in summer it is difficult to distinguish them from other small songbirds, because they become less bright and immerse themselves in caring for their offspring.

Bullfinch: description, size, color

Although these birds are considered forest birds, many citizens have seen them in the metropolis. The bullfinch is a bird belonging to a special genus of songbirds from the finches family. The bird is small, slightly larger than a sparrow. Its weight does not exceed thirty grams. The physique of the bullfinch is strong and rather dense. The body length is on average eighteen centimeters.

The bullfinch is a widespread and very attractive bird. Photos of these elegant birds are often decorated with calendars, various New Year cards, magazines, as well as pages of publications for ornithologists. The bullfinch genus is distinguished by sexual dimorphism in the color of birds. Their brightest part is the breast: in females it is painted in pink-gray color, and in males it is carmine-red. This feature little birds.

The rest of the plumage is identical in color. The head of the bullfinch is adorned with a black cap, which smoothly turns into a small black spot on the chin. The back of the bird is painted bluish-gray. The wings are quite bright: a classic combination of black and white, alternating with stripes along the entire surface of the wing. Uppertail and undertail are white. The bullfinch's beak is thick and wide, painted black.

The legs of the bird are strong and strong, three-toed with small, but very tenacious and sharp black claws. Feathers on the neck, sides, belly and cheeks are painted in gray-brown tones. The color of the plumage of young bullfinches and chicks differs: it is much more modest, much closer to the color of the female than the male.

Spreading

It is believed that bullfinches are forest birds. The predominant habitat of the bullfinch is the mixed and coniferous forests of Asia and Europe from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. Nevertheless, bullfinches are often found in city parks and in the courtyards of residential buildings, they are guests in small feeders outside the windows of multi-storey buildings, at playgrounds. But this does not mean at all that bullfinches can be attributed to city dwellers. It's just that these red-breasted birds fly to the city to eat and eat.

Song

In addition to the bright color, the bullfinch has another distinctive characteristic - its voice, or rather the song. It is difficult to confuse it with the singing of another bird. It is quite difficult to describe the sounds made by this bird in words. The most appropriate comparison is a whistle or a metallic creak. It’s even hard to understand right away that these sounds are made by a bird, the bullfinch’s voice is so unique and his song is unusual.

Usually such trills are heard during the mating season. Surprisingly, both males and females perform them.

Lifestyle

In winter, bullfinches quite often fly to cities when there is not enough food in the forest. It is difficult to see bullfinches in summer, but on frosty winter days they fluff their feathers, turning into bright balls fluttering from branch to branch. Against the background of white snow on the branches of trees, bullfinches look especially elegant and spectacular. This bird is a symbol of frost, snow, Have a good mood and winter holidays.

Ornithologists note the special relationship of birds to mountain ash. They fly up to her in a small flock. Bullfinches on mountain ash sit on branches, and males, like true gentlemen, provide their ladies with the opportunity to choose the most delicious and juicy bunches. Bullfinches stay on mountain ash for only a few minutes, until they are satisfied with the seeds in the berries, since they do not consume juicy pulp. After that, the flock takes off, lightly shaking off the snow from the tree.

Behavior

Ornithologists observe the behavior of these beautiful birds during migrations, when they fly south - to Transbaikalia, the Amur basin, the Crimea, Central Asia and North Africa. The description of bullfinches in different publications characterizes them as calm, unhurried and balanced birds. But at the same time they are quite circumspect and accurate. In the presence of a person, bullfinches are not very active and most often behave very wary, especially for females.

In a flock of bullfinches, there are almost never open confrontations and disagreements. Red-breasted birds live quite amicably and peacefully. Females rarely show aggression. At the same time, they make characteristic sounds with their beak and quickly rotate their heads. But this happens extremely rarely and only when there is an objective reason.

If a person decides to feed the birds and leaves them a treat, then they will not refuse the treat and refresh themselves with pleasure.

Bullfinch at home

The description of a bullfinch living at home is not very common. If you decide to have such a pet, you need to know that you should keep this bird in a cool place so that it feels comfortable, because high temperatures the bullfinch does not tolerate.

In response to care and good conditions, the bullfinch quickly gets used to the owner and becomes almost tame. He can even learn simple melodies and copy some sounds.

reproduction

An interesting description of the bullfinch in the mating season. The voice of bullfinch males becomes more melodic, it sounds much more pleasant than usual. They dedicate their trills to their lovely chosen ones, and they answer with a quiet, muffled whistle.

Pairs in flocks are formed in March. In any family of these bright birds, matriarchy reigns, the main role here lies with the females.

Nest building

For the construction of nests, bullfinches choose spruce forests. V special literature you can often find their description. The bullfinch builds a nest quite high - at least two meters from the ground and as far as possible from the trunk. This is a special ritual in the life of birds. Nest weaving is given great attention, bullfinches collect dry grass and thin twigs with their beaks and paws, skillfully weaving them together. The bottom of the nest is lined with dry leaves, animal hair, and lichen.

Offspring

In early May, the female lays four to six blue eggs. Their entire surface is covered with brown specks. The offspring are incubated by the female for fifteen days. Two weeks later, small and very hungry chicks appear in the nest. To stifle their constant appetite, parents work constantly. They bring seeds, berries and other food to the nest. After another half a month, the chicks learn to fly and soon get out of the nest. However, parents do not stop feeding their babies. Only having reached the age of one month, young bullfinches are ready for independent life.

Nutrition

It is probably not difficult to guess what the bullfinch eats. The basis of its diet throughout the year is vegetable food, although sometimes the bird eats small insects. Much more often bullfinches eat seeds of deciduous and coniferous trees. To do this, they use their small but very strong beak, which has a special shape.

What does the bullfinch eat in the spring and summer? Kidneys, young shoots of plants and the first greens are added to the diet. In summer, bullfinches enjoy flowers. Do not mind pampering yourself with berries, especially mountain ash and bird cherry.

Lifespan

Under natural conditions, bullfinches can live up to fifteen years, although quite often birds do not live to this age. They are too vulnerable to temperature, so they die in snowy and frosty winters with a lack of food. At home, with proper care, such a period is quite real.

common bullfinch, or rogue(outdated) - Pyrrhula pyrrhula

Appearance. The bird is slightly larger sparrow, very heavily built, bluish gray above with black cap, chin, wings and tail, white rump and wing stripe. Young birds without a black cap. The wing stripe is pure white; cheeks and chest in males are red (in the Caucasus and most of the forest zone) or red-pink (in birds from the Magadan region, from Kamchatka and the Northern Kuriles); in females and young birds - brownish-gray.
Voice - soft lingering “day” or “fu-fu”; the song is crackling, with flute and whistle sounds.
Habitat. Lives in forests (avoids only clean pine forests) with dense undergrowth, in gardens and parks. In summer, the bullfinch lives both in dense forests and in light forests. on the edges of burnt areas and clearings, but keeps very secretive and rarely catches the eye. But in winter it is simply impossible not to notice a multi-colored flock of bullfinches.
Nutrition. It feeds mainly on seeds, buds and berries. Feeding on berries, it eats out seeds from them, and throws out the pulp of fruits.
Nesting places. Breeds in coniferous and mixed forests, preferring areas dominated by spruce.
Nest location. The nest is most often located in dense spruce branches on horizontal branches, often far from the trunk, at a height of 2-5 m from the ground. Less commonly, it is located on pines, birches, tall juniper bushes.
Nest building material. The nest is made of closely intertwined thin spruce and other dry twigs and grassy stems. The tray is lined with soft plant material mixed with a small amount of wool and feathers. Moss and lichen are sometimes present in the outer walls.
The shape and size of the nest. The nest is cup-shaped, somewhat flattened. Nest diameter 110-200 mm, nest height 40-80 mm, tray diameter 70-100 mm, tray depth 35-60 mm.
Masonry features. Clutch of 4-6 light blue eggs with specks, dots and dashes of red-brown and dark brown, forming a corolla at the blunt end. Egg sizes: (19-23) x (14-15) mm.
Nesting times. Bullfinches arrive in nesting places in the second half of March - early April. Nests with clutches were noted on different dates in May, fledglings and already flying chicks were observed in June. Only the female incubates for 13-15 days, the chicks stay in the nest for about two weeks. In September-October bullfinches come out of the forest and join northern populations wandering to the south.
Spreading. Distributed almost throughout the forest zone, except for the south of the Far East.
Wintering. Sedentary and nomadic bird.

Description of Buturlin. The name of the bullfinch was successful. In almost the entire territory of our country, except for its more northern parts, this is one of the early winter guests who migrate to us from the north along with the first snow and frost. Among the impoverished autumn and winter nature, the bullfinch is especially noticeable with its very bright and beautiful coloration. Male and female differ sharply in plumage (sexual dimorphism). characteristic feature The plumage of these birds is the distribution of bright colors in solid batches, without streaks, spots and other marks on the feathers. The chest, neck and cheeks of the male are bright red, clean and even in tone. The back is bluish-gray, and the rump and tail are bright white. On the head - from the beak to the back of the head - a black cap. The black color also extends to the throat, around the beak, and everywhere is very sharply demarcated from red. The wings and tail are black, with light, whitish stripes on the wings. The bullfinch's beak is very peculiar: it is black, plump and wide, well adapted for husking seeds from the berries of mountain ash, elderberry, bird cherry, etc. than on the back). Speaking about the coloring of bullfinches, it is impossible not to note one more interesting feature. Their young are dark brown until the first autumn molt (only the wings and tail are black). When one has to observe a brood of bullfinches, these sharp differences between male, female and young are very striking and involuntarily attract attention.
The addition of bullfinches is dense, stocky. In winter, in frosts, they puff up their thick plumage and then even seem fat. They are noticeably larger than a sparrow (length up to 18 centimeters). In my own way temperament the bullfinch is the exact opposite of tap dancers or siskins. This is a phlegmatic, sedentary and not very accommodating bird. Especially "grumpy" female snowmen. Although bullfinches keep flocks all autumn and winter, they often quarrel. And always the instigators are the females, keeping the males in complete submission. Things usually do not come to fights and fights among lazy birds, but the wide-open beak and threatening creaking hiss are quite expressive.
Wandering around central Russia and flying in some winters even to the Black and Caspian Seas, and from Siberia to Kazakhstan and Transbaikalia, bullfinches feed at this time, exclusively by buds, seeds of woody, berry and herbaceous plants (for example, quinoa, buttercups). It is difficult to list all the variety of their winter food, but they especially love the seeds of ash, hornbeam, maple, alder, birch, linden. With their wide blunt beak with a flat and hard palate, they quickly shell seeds from a wide variety of fruits. Flying in flocks on mountain ash, bird cherry, buckthorn, currant and many other wild and cultivated berry plants, bullfinches deftly crush the berries and, discarding the pulp, eat the seeds. They also skillfully deal with black juniper berries and hop cones.
Having eaten on one tree, the flock does not fly away for a long time. Birds clean themselves, sit frowning and quietly call to each other with abrupt high “ki ... ki ... ki ...” or melancholy whistle their unsightly song(both males and females sing). But if a flock hears another from afar, the roll call begins by others. urges, according to which bullfinches cannot be confused with any other birds: it is a sonorous, as if multi-ton (consonance), rather low whistle, like “zhu ... zhu ... zhu ...” With a roll call, the birds take off and quickly fly away . And on the snow under the tree, crumbled remnants of seeds or torn pulp of berries remain - material evidence of their recent visit. So flocks roam along the forest edges, undergrowth, orchards and orchards.
At the end of winter, in February, in central Russia (for example, in the Moscow region), there are noticeably more bullfinches. It is the birds that have flown south in the autumn are beginning to return to the north. At this time, you can already observe the courtship of males for females. Closer to spring, the courtship of males becomes more persistent, in flocks one can even distinguish between couples, but still the dominance of females over males remains. Males always yield to them a more magnificent bunch of berries and a branch with abundant seeds, but not voluntarily, but under the threat of a wide-open creaking beak.
In April, bullfinches almost completely disappear from the southern and central regions of Russia. Only a few pairs of them stay for the summer and nest, for example, in the Moscow region, Tatarstan and Bashkiria. The main nesting area of our bullfinches stretches through the northern forests (to the Arctic Circle) - from Scandinavia, through the Urals and throughout Siberia to Kamchatka. It is interesting that in the direction to the east, in Siberia, the size of the birds becomes larger, and the coloration is lighter (the large and light Kamchatka subspecies). In the Caucasus, along the wooded mountain slopes, lives a sedentary small subspecies of the bullfinch, which differs from the northern one, except for its size, a black cap that does not go far to the back of the head and a paler color of the chest. The Caucasian bullfinch is very close to the Western European one, which sometimes stands out in special kind- western bullfinch.
Observations over nesting little northern bullfinch has been done. Nests are usually arranged in spruce forests, not high from the ground. The material is thin spruce twigs and moss. Inside the nest is lined with hair, feathers and dry thin blades of grass. The whole building is rather loose and flat. There are no more than five eggs in a clutch (about 21 mm long) - plump, greenish-blue, with dark spots and dots. Development occurs within fourteen days, and the same amount of time chicks sit in the nest. It is not known whether the male takes part in incubation, but after the chicks emerge, the main care for them falls on the male. It is almost impossible to observe a brood of young brown bullfinches with their mother, while a family of 4-5 fledglings with a red-breasted male - common occurrence nesting sites for bullfinches.
chicks are fed mainly plant food. Only a few ornithologists (for example, Libo) indicate that in the summer bullfinches also take insects (beetle larvae - according to the analysis of the stomachs). But fledglings with tails that have not yet fully grown (“half-tails”) and broods are fed with immature small seeds, buds and berries. Bullfinches nest once a summer, and already in July the broods gather in flocks. Soon they begin to move south.
In central Russia, where bullfinches stay in the summer, it is difficult to trace their seasonal movement. But ringing data show that individuals nesting in summer, in autumn fly away to the south, and in their place new flocks appear from the north. In some years, local flocks fly away before wintering ones appear, and then their change is more noticeable.
By the nature of their food, bullfinches do not bring significant benefit or harm, but for berry gardens their raids, of course, are undesirable. They are especially fond of cinnamon, sometimes cleaning clean large plantings.

On our website you can read ornithology guide: bird anatomy and morphology , bird nutrition , bird breeding , bird migrations and bird diversity .

In the non-commercial online store of Ecological Center "Ecosystem" you can purchase the following teaching materials ornithology:
computer(electronic) guide to birds of central Russia, containing descriptions and images of 212 bird species (bird drawings, silhouettes, nests, eggs and voices), as well as a computer program for identifying birds encountered in nature,
pocket guide-determinant "Birds of the middle band",
"Field guide to birds" with descriptions and images (drawings) of 307 species of birds in central Russia,
colored key tables "

Red-breasted birds sit on tree branches and seem to be bright lanterns, bullfinches look especially beautiful against the background of white snow among rowan berries and viburnum, in the greenery of Christmas trees. Sometimes you want to compare them with magical winter roses or tangerines.

A flock of bullfinches sits motionless on an ash tree. It is frosty, so they fluffed their feathers a lot, a black head on a short neck was drawn into the body, merged with it and the bullfinches now seem fat, they have become like balls. Among the red-breasted there are birds with gray breasts, these are females, they are slightly larger than male bullfinches, but not so beautiful. You can say this about bullfinches as a joke: they have a matriarchy, women are in command.
Bullfinches are monogamous, their couples are for life.

We have common bullfinches. During the coldest months of winter, these secretive and cautious birds fly to people's homes in search of food. To see these more often beautiful birds, it is necessary to put feeders with sunflower seeds, pumpkins, melons, zucchini, watermelon. Bullfinches get used to people easily.
The wide and massive beak of bullfinches is not suitable for catching bugs, so these birds feed on various seeds of maple, spruce, ash, peck berries of mountain ash, bird cherry, viburnum, but completely discard the pulp. They also feed on tree buds and small nuts.

Bullfinches live in small flocks of 7-10 individuals in a strip of coniferous and mixed forests. They are calm and friendly birds, fights between them are rare, more often females quarrel, the whole flock flies to the squeak of a bird in trouble.
In spring, bullfinches fly not to distant lands, but to deciduous forests. Pairs build nests, carefully masking them, more often on high spruces (from 2 to 5 m); people are not shown.
In nests similar to a half-cup, the female lays 4 - 6 green-bluish eggs with reddish speckles. During the period of incubation, the male feeds the female, sometimes replaces her. After 2 weeks, chicks appear, after another 2 weeks they begin an independent life. Over the summer, bullfinches reproduce 2 offspring.

Bullfinches have a body temperature of +42, so they do not like heat.
And how the bullfinches sing! They can repeat any tune, they are called mockingbirds and parrots. In pre-revolutionary Russia, very young bullfinches (not yet with reddened breasts, dark brown in color) were taken from nests and taught music. Such MUSICAL BURNINGS were very expensive, they were bought by the rich of Europe. Now the secrets of learning to sing bullfinches are lost.

SNEGIRI - birds of the forest and not migratory, they are sedentary, in a temperate climate they winter where they grew up. But with a shortage of food, bullfinches migrate for 100 - 300 km. From the cold northern regions, they migrate closer to the south, to Transbaikalia, to Central Asia, to the Crimea, to the Amur basin.
The closest relatives of bullfinches are goldfinches, crossbills, finches, grosbeaks, and more distant ones are canaries. Bullfinches live in captivity for 10-12 years, less in nature. They are hunted by predators: owls, hawks - sparrowhawks, martens, wild cats.

In total, there are 9 TYPES of bullfinches in the WORLD, the family of finches, the order of passeriformes.
Various types of bullfinches inhabit not only the temperate zone of the planet, but also subtropical and even tropical. The bullfinch has the most extensive range: from west to east it stretches from Ireland and Britain to Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands, from north to south - from Scandinavia to the Caucasus, Western Asia and the northern part of the Iberian Peninsula.

The orange bullfinch lives in the Himalayas - a very small species and needs to be protected. Red-headed and yellow-headed bullfinches live here.
The Azores bullfinch is endangered. Several hundred pairs of this species remain. Destruction threatens them due to the destruction of habitats, this is in the Azores in the Atlantic Ocean at the latitude of Gibraltar.

There are types of bullfinches with nondescript coloring of feathers, these are brown, white-cheeked, gray,
Ussuri - only the throat is red. The greatest diversity of these birds is in the Himalayas and Southeast Asia, the southernmost bullfinches in the Philippine Islands and Taiwan.

In Western Europe, bullfinches are often kept in houses, as exotic birds and even display other color forms of bullfinches. Interspecific hybrids of bullfinches with linnets, with canaries, with goldfinches, with spruce crossbills and tits are known ...

* INTERESTING, what of migratory birds CUCKOOs are the first to fly away from us. They do not fly in packs, but alone.

Then the SWALLOWS fly away, and later the SWIFTS. Scientists - ornithologists track by the rings on their paws where the birds fly. Swallows fly to the Mediterranean coast, to Indonesia, to South America.

Our STARLINGS and THRUSHS like to live in France, Portugal, Italy, Spain. Starlings love the Mediterranean coast.
CRANES and DUCKS fly to Egypt, to the banks of the Nile. STORKS and NIGHTINGALES also winter in Africa.
lapwings, sparrows, woodcocks are seen in England.
There are many of our ducks in the Balkans.

SWANS have chosen Greece and Great Britain.
Accumulations of FINCHES, GESE are observed in Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan.
SEAGULLS fly to the Sea of ​​Azov and to the south of the Caspian Sea.
River gulls - to the Black and Mediterranean seas.

ROOKS fly first to the Black Sea, then to Georgia, towards Afghanistan, then to India, to the Nile Valley, and to Central Africa they fly across the entire Sahara.
POLAR TERNs fly to Antarctica for wintering.

Bullfinch is a small beautiful bird from the family of finches. Bullfinches have a dense physique, they have a thick short beak, which is great for getting seeds, the size of the bird is slightly larger than that of a sparrow. Males are brightly colored, while females are much more modest - he has bright red chest feathers, and hers are grayish brown. In addition, adult birds have a “black cap” on their heads, while chicks and young birds do not.

Spreading

Bullfinches live in Europe and Asia and prefer to settle in the forest and forest-steppe zone. Most of all, bullfinches like spruce forests growing near rivers. In summer, bullfinches usually live in coniferous and mixed forests, and in winter they can often be seen in gardens and parks. Their red breasts are perfectly visible on the snow-covered branches of trees. Basically, bullfinches lead a sedentary lifestyle, but in colder time year they wander from the northern regions to those located to the south, and in the spring they migrate back.

Nutrition

The bullfinch menu is not very diverse. Adult birds are happy to eat various dry seeds and buds of trees, and they peck at juicy fruits and extract hard seeds from them. The nutrition of chicks is a little more diverse - parents feed their babies not only with seeds, but also with juicy berries and small insects.

Lifestyle

In the warm season, bullfinches lead a secretive lifestyle - they settle in dense forests, where there are always a lot of seeds and tree buds that these birds love so much. With the onset of cold weather, many bullfinches are forced to move closer to human habitation, to where food can be found. Therefore, in winter, bullfinches can often be seen in parks and gardens, pecking rowan clusters.

In spring, bullfinches build simple nests in the form of a bowl, inside they line them with feathers and leaves. The female lays from 4 to 6 small pale blue eggs with brown spots in the nest. She incubates them herself for about two weeks. The chicks grow quickly and after two weeks they can leave the parental nest.

By nature, bullfinches are lively and active birds. They quickly get used to people and are capable of learning. These birds are often kept at home because of their cheerful disposition and beautiful voice.

• Bullfinches create a couple once in a lifetime.
• Bullfinches have a pronounced matriarchy. The female considers herself the main one, and the male obeys her, yielding the best grains and a cozy place on the branch.
• Bullfinches are bred in captivity as songbirds.

Brief information about the bullfinch.