Hawfinch

The hawfinch is one of the largest of the finches in Europe. One of the bird's older Greek names means "nut-breaker." It is able to crack nuts, seeds, and even the hardest pits of cherries and plums to eat the kernels inside. Its amazingly powerful beak and jaws allows it to feed on items which other birds cannot eat.

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Aves

Order: Passeriformes

Family: Fringillidae

Genus: Coccothraustes

Species: Coccothraustes

One sign of the hawfinch being nearby may be the fruit pits and seeds which the bird neatly, skillfully, and easily cracks open so as to eat the kernels inside. The hawfinch's large, powerful, gray or yellow bill with horn-like pads and muscular jaws are specially designed to split the incredibly hard pits of fruits such as cherries and plums. This is to the advantage of this bird, since it makes available foods which other birds cannot eat. It also eats nuts, such as beechnuts, holly, yew, maple, hornbeam, and hawthorn seeds, as well as buds and insects. Gardeners have found the split shells of their peas on the ground after the hawfinch has visited the garden.

The hawfinch is among the largest of the finches which live in Europe. It is a member of the Carduelinae subfamily, or group, of finches known as Cardueline finches. The male has deep, rust-brown plumage, or feathering, on its upper body and the crown of its head. Black decorates his chin and around his bill. The gray feathers on his shoulders become black on his wings, which also have white patches. The wings span 11 to 13 inches (28 to 33 centimeters). Tail feathers are black and white, and these contrast with the pink plumage of his breast and belly. The female has similar colors, but they are lighter and duller. Both male and female are seven inches (18 centimeters) long and weigh up to 2 1/2 ounces (70 grams).

The hawfinch makes its home in either lowland or mountainous regions of woodland, grassland, and various other forested habitats. Sometimes these are beside rivers and lakes. Orchards are popular places for the bird so that it may find fruit pits and seeds. It is also content to inhabit parks, gardens, and suburbs with lots of trees. Daytime is the best time to hear the robin-like "ptik" calls of the hawfinch as it perches or flies, since the bird roosts at night. Even so, the hawfinch is shy and not often seen by people. The hawfinch does not usually migrate.

With the arrival of spring a male and female hawfinch build a nest in a dense thorn bush, in an orchard tree, or a tree in a garden or thick forest. They choose a horizontal branch between five and 35 feet above the ground. Both male and female gather moss, twigs, and roots to form the shallow nest, and they line it with soft grass, small roots, hair, or plant fibers. They may either have neighbors in a small nesting colony or try to find privacy away from other hawfinch pairs. A good nest site remains in use by the same birds year after year. Several weeks after mating with the male in April through June, the female lays four to five eggs of varying appearance in the nest. She sits on the eggs to keep them warm and to protect them for 11 to 13 days. This is the incubation period, and the male feeds her during this time. The parents feed their young for up to two weeks after they hatch and before the young fly from the nest. The young are able to join a flock by the time winter arrives.

Sparrowhawks, goshawks, jays, and squirrels prey especially on the young hawfinch. They may live to be four years old if neither starvation nor predators kill them. They are not a threatened species.

Bibliography

“Hawfinch Bird Facts - Coccothraustes Coccothraustes.” Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/hawfinch. Accessed 8 Apr. 2024.

“Hawfinch - Facts, Diet, Habitat & Pictures on Animalia.bio.” Animalia, 2024, animalia.bio/hawfinch. Accessed 8 Apr. 2024.