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.
The European goldfinch or simply the goldfinch is a small passerine bird in the finch family that is native to Europe, North Africa and western and central Asia. It has been introduced to other areas, including Australia, New Zealand and Uruguay.
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".
The genus Carduelis is a group of birds in the finch family Fringillidae.
The European greenfinch or simply the greenfinch is a small passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae.
The redpolls are a group of small passerine birds in the finch family Fringillidae, which have characteristic red markings on their heads. They are placed in the genus Acanthis. The genus name Acanthis is from the Ancient Greek akanthis, a name for a small now unidentifiable bird.
The citril finch, also known as the Alpine citril finch, is a small songbird, a member of the true finch family, Fringillidae.
Rhodopechys is a genus of finches containing the following two species:
The desert finch, sometimes called Lichtenstein's desert finch, is a large brown true finch found in southern Eurasia. Its taxonomy is confused, and it has formerly been placed in Fringilla, Bucanetes, Carduelis and Rhodopechys.
The grey-capped greenfinch or Oriental greenfinch is a small passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae that breeds in broadleaf and conifer woodlands of the East Palearctic.
The British finches are made up of several species of finch which were formerly very popular as cage birds in Great Britain. They are not currently commonplace, but are still kept by a few dedicated fanciers.
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. 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 their females rather than a territory or nest.
The genus Rhynchostruthus is a small group of finches in the family Fringillinae. Commonly known as golden-winged grosbeaks, they are attractive, chunky, medium-sized, robust-billed songbirds restricted to the southern Arabian and northern Somalian regions.
The black-headed greenfinch is a small passerine bird in the family Fringillidae. It is found in the Chinese province of Yunnan, northern Laos, eastern Myanmar and adjacent areas of Vietnam, Thailand and Northeast India. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forest and subtropical or tropical dry shrubland.
The Vietnamese greenfinch is a small passerine bird in the family Fringillidae. It is found only in Đà Lạt Plateau of southern Vietnam. Its natural habitat is open montane pine forest and scrubland. It is threatened by habitat loss.
The yellow-breasted greenfinch is a small passerine bird in the family Fringillidae that is native to the northern regions of the Indian subcontinent.
The La Palma chaffinch, also known as the Palman chaffinch or, locally in Spanish as the pinzón palmero or pinzón hembra, is a small passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae. It is a subspecies of the common chaffinch that is endemic to La Palma in the Canary Islands, a Spanish archipelago that forms part of Macaronesia in the North Atlantic Ocean.
The Trias greenfinch is an extinct passerine from the family of finches (Fringillidae). The fossil remains were unearthed in the Cuevas de los Murciélagos near San Andrés y Sauces in the north of La Palma, Canary Islands. The species epithet commemorates Spanish palaeontologist Miquel Trías who collected the holotype together with Josep Antoni Alcover in July 1985.
The slender-billed greenfinch("Carduelis" aurelioi) is an extinct songbird in the finch family Fringillidae. It was endemic to the island Tenerife in the Canary Islands, and became extinct after human settlement of the islands.
Spinus is a genus of passerine birds in the finch family. It contains the North and South American siskins and goldfinches, as well as two Old World species.
