European Goldfinch
Carduelis carduelis
With its fine, pointed bill the goldfinch deftly extracts seeds from thistle and teasel heads, often hanging upside down. Its German name imitates its call, which also gives it away in flight.
- Group
- Songbirds
- Photos
- 2
- Taken
- 2024–2025
Profile: European Goldfinch
- Family
- Finches (Fringillidae)
- Size
- approx. 12–13.5 cm
- Wingspan
- approx. 21–25 cm
- Weight
- approx. 14–19 g
- Habitat
- Seed-rich, semi-open farmland with field margins, fallow land, orchards, hedgerows and woodland edges.
- Diet
- Mainly half-ripe and ripe seeds of herbaceous plants such as thistles, teasels and burdocks, and of trees such as alders and birches; in the breeding season also small insects, especially aphids.
- When to see
- Resident and short-distance migrant, seen year-round; outside the breeding season often in flocks on fallow land and field edges.
Learn more: Wikipedia · NABU (German)