Squad - Passeriformes

Family - Finches

Genus/Species - Pyrrhula pyrrhula

Basic data:

DIMENSIONS

Length: 15 cm.

Wingspan: 25 cm.

Weight: up to 34

REPRODUCTION

Puberty: from 1 year.

Nesting period: from April to August.

Carrying: 2 per season.

Number of eggs: 4-7.

Incubation: 12-14 days.

LIFESTYLE

Habits: Bullfinches (pictured) are shy birds.

Food: seeds, buds of trees and bushes, and berries.

Lifespan: 2-4 years.

RELATED SPECIES

In the Azores there is a subspecies of the bullfinch, the plumage of which lacks the red color. The northern European subspecies is large in size.

Bullfinch. Video (00:08:35)

Gardeners are unhappy if they find bullfinches on their plots in spring and autumn. Birds eat the buds and shoots of fruit trees, which has earned them the disfavor of gardeners. Other people treat birds with sympathy.

WHAT DOES IT EAT?

Bullfinches feed on seeds and buds of trees and bushes. The bullfinch's beak resembles the beak of a parrot - it is just as short and strong. The bullfinch takes out seeds and buds with its beak, like pliers, and only then peels them from the hard shell.

The diet of the bullfinch depends on the time of year. In spring, the bird feeds on oak flowers, dandelions and willow catkins. In summer it feeds on nettles, sorrel and blackberries. Birch seeds and ash fruits are the main winter food of the bullfinch. In addition, in winter, birds eat rowan berries.

A rowan tree dusted with snow, on the branches of which red-breasted bullfinches feed, is a wonderful sight. In early spring, birds feast on hawthorn and thorn buds.

In lean years, bullfinches are forced to feed on the buds of fruit trees and seeds of cultivated plants, causing significant damage to gardeners and farmers. An adult bullfinch is a vegetarian, but it feeds its chicks with protein foods - spiders and insects.

BUFFIN AND MAN

Bullfinches can often be seen on fruit trees in parks. In some countries, gardeners shoot or trap bullfinches, although studies have shown that these birds feed on fruit trees only when they lack seeds from wild plant species. Once upon a time, people kept bullfinches, like other songbirds, in cages. The bullfinch is a talented imitator; he very easily learns the melodies that his owner whistles to him.

WHERE DOES IT LIVE?

The bullfinch is a forest bird. In Central and Northern Europe it lives in coniferous and mixed forests, and in Great Britain it inhabits deciduous forests. IN Lately bullfinches settle in gardens, where they often nest; they can be seen in the thicket of the forest and among hedges around fields.

The bullfinches are forced to change their habits by the systematic destruction of forests, which began in mid-19th century and continues to this day. If there are enough natural nesting places, bullfinches try not to appear in gardens. Bullfinches usually move along branches in the crowns of trees and rarely descend to the ground. During the nesting period, bullfinches can settle in thickets not far from human habitations. In winter, a significant part of the birds migrate to the south.

REPRODUCTION

OBSERVATIONS OF THE BUFFIN

The bullfinch lives in Central Europe, with the exception of high mountains and part of the Northern Sea coast, all year round. It is easily recognized by its characteristic black cap. The male bullfinch is difficult to confuse with any other bird due to its brightly colored neck, chest and abdomen. Birds of both sexes have the same white rump and white stripes on the wings, noticeable when flying. Bullfinches are distinguished not only by their beauty, but also by their solidity: they never rush or fuss.

• Parents bring a lot of food in their crops, so feeding the chicks once every half hour is enough.
• The male's song consists of gentle whistles and chirps with tones that quickly replace each other. Flying from tree to tree and singing monotonous, but melodious and pleasant songs, the bullfinch greatly enlivens the gloomy winter forest.
• Bullfinches love ash seeds. However, ash trees bear fruit well only once every two years. Given this fact, we can assume years when bullfinches will make more raids on gardens.

DESCRIPTION OF THE BUFFIN

Male: has a bright, pink-red chest, white rump, black cap and blue-gray back.

Female: similar to the male, but more modestly colored.

Beak: short, conical shape. With the help of its sharp edges, the bird gets seeds and buds. Touching with beaks is part of the mating ritual of bullfinches.

Eggs: light blue with red spots. The female often builds a nest in hawthorn bushes or young juniper bushes.

- Habitat of the bullfinch

Winter is the time of bullfinches. When the trees dress up in snowy clothes, against the background of snow-white frost it is impossible not to notice the bright feathers of the bullfinch. Illuminated by the winter sun, these birds seem like overseas flowers that accidentally fell into our frosts.

Plumage

A very easily recognizable bird arrives in winter - the bullfinch. It is not difficult to describe it, since it has very characteristics plumage by which everyone recognizes him. In any case, the male of this bird. Because the colors of the male and female bullfinch are very different. The description of a bullfinch for children is somewhat different from the same words for adults. It is enough for a child to say that it is a small bird, slightly larger than a sparrow, has a red breast and flies to human habitation only in winter. An adult will have to give a more detailed answer.

So, the male bullfinch has a red chest, cheeks and neck. The color is very bright, even over the entire area of ​​​​painting. The back is gray-blue, while the tail and rump are white. Since the bird's head is black, it appears to be wearing a black hat. This color takes up space both on the neck and around the beak. At the same time, the border between red and black is very clear, noticeable from a distance. The tail and wings are black, only the wings have slightly whitish stripes. The beak is thick, wide, black - it is designed to get seeds of various berries.

The female bullfinch, the description of which is somewhat different from the description of the male, generally has a similar coloration to him except for one, the brightest, detail - her breast is not bright red, but grayish-brown.

The coloring of young specimens of the bird, which has the name “bullfinch,” is interesting. A description of the bird for children and adults would be incomplete without adding that the young of this bird are dark brown in color before their first molt. And only in the fall, having completely changed its feathers, the baby becomes indistinguishable from the adult part of the flock.

Now, if you happen to meet a bullfinch, the description will make it possible to immediately recognize which of them is which.

They have a stocky, dense build. In winter, in the coldest weather, they try to fluff up their feathers more, which can make them even seem fat. The length of the bird reaches 18 centimeters. Its temperament is very different from, for example, a siskin or a tap dancer. The bullfinch, whose description gives hope for a cheerful disposition, is in fact quite phlegmatic, extremely unfriendly and inactive. Females are especially scandalous. Despite the fact that in winter and autumn the birds try to stay in flocks, they constantly quarrel. And in all cases, it is the females who start the scandal, who have complete power over the males. Fights are a rare occurrence among lazy birds, but opening your beak and hissing threateningly at your opponent is a cute thing.

Habitats

The description of the bullfinch for children must be supplemented with information about the place of residence of this bird.

So, it is distributed throughout almost all of Eurasia, excluding its southernmost and northernmost regions. In temperate climates, bullfinches most often live sedentary or fly away near the main nesting site. Those who live in more northern regions migrate closer to the south for the winter.

In our country, the bird is most widespread in the forest zone, excluding the southern part Far East. In the summer, birds live in the forest, sometimes choosing open forests along the edges of clearings for nests. Given their habit of being secretive, they are difficult to notice in the warm season.

In winter, they migrate far to the south, as the description says. The bullfinch flies to Transbaikalia, Central Asia, the Crimea, to the Amur basin and can even reach northern Africa. During the period of nomadism, it stops in parks and gardens of cities and rural settlements. In the opposite direction, to the native nesting site, the flocks move during March and April.

Settlements

Where does the bullfinch live? A description of a bird for children cannot be considered complete without mentioning the favorite habitats of this bird - dense forests and woodlands. Bullfinches prefer to make nests on coniferous trees, more often spruce trees. The most common houses of bullfinches are found at a height of 2 to 5 meters. The material for the nest is moss, thin twigs, and sometimes animal fur. The inside is lined with feathers, hair and dry grass. The appearance of the structure is loose and flat.

Nutrition

The bullfinch, a photo and description of which can be found in this article, eats a very varied diet. The diet of this bird is entirely of plant origin. Thus, bullfinches happily consume buds, seeds and berries of various plants. They cannot pass by the seeds of ash, maple, linden, birch or alder indifferently. The wide beak is designed specifically for removing seeds from fruits of any shape and type. Bullfinches themselves do not eat the berries; they simply crush them, take out the seeds and feast on them with pleasure.

Chicks

In April, the bullfinch prefers to hatch chicks. A description of a bird cannot be complete without a description of this process.

Most often there are up to five eggs in a clutch. They are green-blue in color, with dark spots. Chicks develop in 14 days, and the same amount of time is required to feed the chicks. It is not precisely established whether the male participates in incubation, but it is his direct responsibility to feed the female sitting on the eggs. After the chicks fly out of the nest, they are mostly taken care of by the male. It is surprising that it was not possible to detect a brood of chicks with their mother, while a family of several fledglings headed by a male is a common occurrence. The chicks are fed plant food.

These birds nest once a summer, forming flocks by July. Young chicks spend the entire first year of their life with their parents.

Bullfinch at home

Oddly enough, the bullfinch very easily gets used to humans. He can learn simple melodies by whistling them in his free time.

The cage with the bird must be kept cool, since not only the heat, but the bullfinch will not survive even the heat.

It is necessary to feed in the same way as a bird feeds in nature - seeds of grasses, shrubs and trees. It is imperative to include berries in the diet so that the plumage does not change color due to vitamin deficiency.

The bullfinch is a small beautiful bird from the finch family. Bullfinches have a dense build, they have a thick short beak, which is excellent for obtaining seeds, the size of the bird is slightly larger than that of a sparrow. Males are brightly colored, while females are much more modest - his chest feathers are bright red, while 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 forest and forest-steppe zones. 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 clearly visible on snow-covered tree branches. Basically, bullfinches lead a sedentary lifestyle, but in the cold season they migrate 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 happily eat various dry seeds and tree buds, and they peck at juicy fruits and extract their hard seeds. The chicks' diet is a little more varied - parents feed their babies not only seeds, but also 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 they can find food. Therefore, in winter, bullfinches can more often be seen in parks and gardens, pecking at rowan bunches.

In the spring, bullfinches build simple bowl-shaped nests, lining them inside with feathers and leaves. The female lays 4 to 6 small eggs of a pale blue color with brown spots in the nest. She incubates them herself for about two weeks. The chicks grow quickly and can leave the parent's nest within two weeks.

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 mate once in a lifetime.
• Bullfinches have a pronounced matriarchy. The female considers herself to be in charge, and the male obeys her, giving up the best grains and a cozy place on the branch.
• Bullfinches are bred in captivity as songbirds.

Brief information about the bullfinch.

IN winter period On the branches of trees you can often find beautiful small birds with red plumage on their chests. They are known as bullfinches, which, unlike many other birds, lead an active lifestyle precisely in the cold season. How do they look? What do they eat and where do they live? Are they flying away somewhere for the summer? Details will be given below.

Description of bullfinches

You can often watch a ringing flock of bullfinches fly from branch to branch. So, bullfinch refers specifically to songbirds genus of bullfinches, family of finches.

Bullfinches are very noticeable and attractive, it’s not for nothing that their photos are actively used to create New Year cards, calendars and other winter-themed products.

The size of these birds is very small, they are only slightly larger than ordinary sparrows. The physique of this winter bird is dense and strong, but despite this, its weight is small - about 35 grams. The length of the body is approximately 18 cm, and the wingspan is 30 cm.

For all bullfinches characterized by dimorphism, that is, differences by gender. It is very easy to distinguish a female from a male:

• the plumage on the female's breast is paler than that of the male, it is gray with a slight pink tint;
• In males, the breast is always bright red (the so-called carmine shade).

The color of the rest of the plumage is identical in both males and females. On the bird’s head there is a so-called black cap, which goes down and forms the same black chin clearly under the beak.

The back of bullfinches is gray with a slight bluish tint. The wings of these birds have only two colors - black and white, but at the same time they are very bright, since these colors alternate with stripes.

The bird's tail is short, rounded at the end, and always painted black. The feathers under the tail, on the contrary, are white.

The cheeks, sides and neck of the bird have a gray tint, its intensity varies depending on which subspecies the bullfinch belongs to. As a rule, the plumage of chicks is always paler than that of adults.

The bullfinch's beak is small, wide and very strong, black. The bird's paws are painted black, they are tenacious, strong, and have three toes on each, which, in turn, have sharp claws.

Based on this description, it will not be difficult to recognize bullfinches among other birds, and also to discern who among them is female and who is male.

Singing bullfinches

Bullfinches easy to recognize by special singing, because they make sounds that are difficult to confuse with the sounds of other birds. The bullfinch's song resembles a ringing, almost metallic whistle (sometimes it resembles a creaking).

These birds sing especially loudly during the mating season, and what is most interesting here is that not only males sing, but also females.

As already mentioned, the bullfinch is winter bird, which means it settles in the appropriate area - these are mixed and coniferous forests. The habitat of these birds is very wide; they can be found in the taiga massifs of Europe and Asia from the Atlantic to the Pacific coasts. By the way, in Russia they can also be found in forest-steppes.

Sometimes birds can be seen in city parks, but this is the exception rather than the norm. Often these birds fly to residential areas to look for food. For the same reason, they often feed themselves from feeders on the windows of houses.

Bullfinch is sedentary representative of the feathered family, but, as you know, it is visible only in winter. You won’t see them in the summer, so many people believe that bullfinches fly to other regions for the winter. This opinion is erroneous, since these birds simply fly deep into the forests and build their nests there.

Since these are winter birds, it is no wonder that they favorite delicacy is red rowan. By the way, it is on rowan branches that bullfinches are most often depicted in various photographs and paintings. When a whole flock of these birds lands on a rowan branch, you can observe how nobly the males behave: they let the females go ahead and allow them to choose the largest and juiciest berries.

By the way, if you look closely, you can see that they do not eat the pulp of rowan berries, but just choose seeds from them.

In addition to rowan, these birds also eat alder, elderberry, maple, hornbeam, and ash, and again, they choose the seeds of these trees.

In the summer, these birds fly to the fields and there they find seeds of horse sorrel, burdock, quinoa and other field herbs.

Quite sometimes they do not disdain insects And. By the way, quick and nimble by nature, bullfinches become completely clumsy during feeding, which can be dangerous if they fly into a populated area to feast on a feeder: often these birds fall into the clutches of domestic cats, which can take advantage of the clumsiness of their prey.

About the breeding of bullfinches

During the mating season, bullfinches sing melodiously, and it is the males who do this in order to conquer the females, and they, in turn, respond to them with a quieter whistling. By March, pairs are already formed. It is interesting that in the family of bullfinches the main role is played by the female.

These birds make nests mainly on coniferous trees, at a height of at least 1.5-2 m and away from the trunk. The nests themselves are carefully woven: the birds, using their paws and beaks, skillfully weave together thin twigs and dry grass. The bottom of such a nest is covered with lichen, dry tree leaves and even animal hair.

In May, the female lays blue eggs with brown spots (about 4-6 pieces), then incubates them for about 2 weeks. The newly born chicks are incredibly voracious and constantly demand food, so their feathered parents fly without interruption for berries and insects.

The chicks grow very quickly:

• at two weeks of age, the chicks make their first attempts to get out of the nest and even learn to fly, but at the same time they continue to eat what their parents bring them;
• Already at the age of one month, the young become completely independent.

Bullfinches in the wild live about 15 years, but often they die earlier. This happens due to unbearable temperatures, as well as lack of food.

Surprisingly, such a bird, which is accustomed to living in the wild, may well feel great next to a person, provided that all requirements are met. the necessary conditions content. These calm and balanced birds are not particularly active in the presence of people, especially females. But if you treat them with a tasty treat, they will be very grateful and start eating with pleasure.

If you have the idea of ​​getting such a bird as a pet, then it is worth remembering that it cannot tolerate high temperatures, so it is necessary to provide it with a comfortable place to live where cool air will be maintained.

It is interesting that these birds are quite friendly and, if handled carefully, they can quickly be tamed, and can also delight people with simple onomatopoeia and whistling of memorized melodies.

Bullfinches are a small genus of birds, well known for the bright colors of some of its representatives. There are 9 species of these birds in the world, but the most famous among them is the common bullfinch. Systematically, bullfinches belong to the family of finches; their closest relatives are grosbeaks, goldfinches, crossbills and finches, and more distant relatives are canaries.

Male common bullfinch(Pyrrhula pyrrhula).

Bullfinches are the size of a sparrow or even smaller, but they appear larger due to their dense build. These birds are characterized by a cone-shaped, massive and sharp beak, black beady eyes, and a short neck, which is why their head seems to merge with the body. The wings are also relatively short, and the tail, on the contrary, is moderately long. Contrary to popular belief, most bullfinches are rather dull than bright birds. As a rule, they have a black cap or mask on their head, covering only the eyes. The flight feathers of the wings and tail are also black (sometimes with white spots), the back is gray. The color of the abdomen in females is gray or brownish; in males its color varies from pinkish-gray to bright crimson or orange. However, in some species (brown, white-cheeked, Azores, gray bullfinches) sexual dimorphism is not expressed, so males and females have the same inconspicuous coloring. Despite the fact that bright colors are characteristic only of the males of some species, bullfinches are generally well known, since they appear near homes in winter and their crimson breasts are clearly visible on the white snow. This explains the name “bullfinch”.

The brown bullfinch (Pyrrhula nipalensis) has no sexual dimorphism: males differ from females only by an inconspicuous red spot on the wing.

The appearance of bullfinches near homes in winter gave rise to the idea of ​​these birds as northern ones. In fact, they inhabit not only temperate, but also subtropical and even tropical zones. The common 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 it stretches from Scandinavia to the Caucasus, Western Asia and the northern part of the Iberian Peninsula. Even further south in Europe, the Azores bullfinch lives - it is found on the Azores Islands, lost in the Atlantic Ocean approximately at the latitude of Gibraltar. But bullfinches reach their greatest diversity in the Himalayas and Southeast Asia, with the southernmost reaching the Philippine Islands and Taiwan.

The red-headed bullfinch (Pyrrhula erythrocephala) is the most abundant species of this genus in the Himalayas.

All types of bullfinches are exclusively forest birds. They inhabit dense and dense forests, vast open spaces avoid, during the nesting period they stay away from human habitation. The common bullfinch, for example, clearly prefers dark spruce forests rather than light pine forests. In general, bullfinches are secretive and cautious birds, which are rarely seen in summer. Depending on feeding conditions, they can be sedentary or migratory. In years with a good supply of food, bullfinches remain to spend the winter where they grew up; in years with a shortage of food, they migrate 100-300 km to the south. During this period, they willingly visit city parks and immediately catch the eye of people. The nature of the flocks also changes with the seasons. In summer, bullfinches stay exclusively in pairs, and after hatching their chicks, they live in small family groups. In winter, several such groups can unite into a larger flock, but even in this case, bullfinches do not form very large concentrations.

Bullfinches are calm and friendly birds; fights between them occur very rarely, and the entire flock will fly to the squeak of a bird in trouble.

Bullfinches feed on plant food. The basis of their diet is dry seeds of spruce, ash, maple and other trees. In addition, they love to eat rowan, viburnum and bird cherry berries, although they do not swallow them whole, but only select the seeds, and usually throw away the pulp. Bullfinches can also include buds, young shoots and flowers in their diet; they eat insects extremely rarely. These birds are quite voracious; they wipe the remains of berries that stick to their beaks on twigs, sometimes seeds also get stuck in the pulp, thus bullfinches contribute to the spread of forest plants.

An orange-breasted male bullfinch greedily pecks at berries.

Their nesting period begins soon after arriving from wintering grounds - in March-April. At this time, the males begin to sing their simple songs. Their calling cry sounds like “whew-whew”, and during normal communication in a flock, the voices of bullfinches resemble creaking. The pair builds a nest in April-May. It is almost always located on spruce branches, usually at a height of 2-5 m. The nest of bullfinches has the shape of a half-bowl made of thin twigs, roots and wool, it is always very skillfully camouflaged. The female lays 4-6 bluish eggs with reddish specks and incubates them for 13-15 days. At this time, the male brings her food and occasionally replaces her on the nest. The hatched chicks spend about 2 weeks in the nest and then roam with their parents. As a rule, bullfinches have another clutch in the summer.

A female common bullfinch at a carefully camouflaged nest with chicks (right).

Bullfinches live in captivity for 10-12 years; in nature, their life expectancy is shorter. The enemies of bullfinches are the same predators that hunt all passerine birds: small owls, sparrowhawks, martens, wild forest cats. Most species of bullfinches are not rare, but the range of the orange bullfinch in the Himalayas is very small and this species needs protection. The Azores bullfinch, represented in nature by several hundred pairs, is under threat of extinction; this species is threatened with destruction due to habitat destruction.

Azores bullfinch (Pyrrhula murina).

Thanks to their bright colors, people paid attention to bullfinches back in the Middle Ages. In that era, bullfinches were captured and kept as songbirds. Bullfinches take root well in captivity. To keep them, you need a spacious cage, which must be equipped with perches (it is better to use natural twigs). During the nesting period, it is better to attach a spruce branch to one of the corners of the cage so that it creates a shelter, this will stimulate the birds to reproduce. In captivity, bullfinches are fed with grass seeds, melons, watermelon, small grains, birch and pine buds, juniper berries, bird cherry, and rowan (they can be purchased at a pharmacy and soaked before feeding). It is also useful to give fruits, juicy greens (knotweed, lemon balm), twigs of pine, cherry, birch, apple, willow, viburnum and fresh bark of these trees. In the spring-summer period, the diet must contain eggshells, activated carbon, clay, chalk and animal feed (grasshoppers, mealworms, brine shrimp). In our country, bullfinches have now moved into the category of exotic pets, and in Western Europe they are often kept in houses. Several color forms of bullfinches have been bred here; interspecific hybrids of bullfinches with linnets, canaries, goldfinches, spruce crossbills and even tits are also known.

The Ussuri bullfinch (Pyrrhula griseiventris) differs from the common bullfinch in that only its throat is colored red.