Hawfinch

Overview

Hawfinch: Stocky finch with a huge blue-gray conical bill that turns yellow in winter. Yellow-buff head, black chin, throat and mask, pink-buff underparts, dark red- brown upperparts, gray neck and white tipped brown tail. Eats large tree seeds, also eats fruits and insects. Swift bounding flight.

Range and Habitat

Hawfinch: Native of Europe and Asia and accidental in Alaska. Prefers forested areas.

INTERESTING FACTS

As the closest living relatives of the Hawfinch are the Evening and the Hooded Grosbeak, it is sometimes called the European Grosbeak.
They have an unexplained habit of breeding in the same locality before disappearing and then returning after a few years. Such erratic behaviour results in few conclusions about population trends.
Their shy and retiring habits and lack of conspicuous song make it possible for people to live for years without discovering the presence of hawfinches.
A group of finches has many collective nouns, including a "charm", "company", and "trembling" of finches.

The Hawfinch has a large range, estimated globally at 1,000,000 to 10,000,000 square kilometers. Native to Europe and Asia, this bird prefers temperate forests but has been spotted living in both rural gardens and urban areas. The global population of this bird is estimated at 4,800,000 to 8,300,000 individuals and does not show signs of decline that would necessitate inclusion on the IUCN Red List. For this reason, the current evaluation status of the Hawfinch is Least Concern.