European goldfinch#Christian symbolism

The European goldfinch was one of the birds described and illustrated by Swiss naturalist Conrad Gessner in his Historiae animalium of 1555.{{cite book | last = Gessner | first = Conrad | title = Historiæ animalium liber III qui est de auium natura. Adiecti sunt ab initio indices alphabetici decem super nominibus auium in totidem linguis diuersis: & ante illos enumeratio auium eo ordiné quo in hoc volumine continentur | year = 1555 | publisher = Froschauer | location = Zurich | language = la | url = http://gdz.sub.uni-goettingen.de/en/dms/loader/img/?PID=PPN472755714%7CLOG_0066 | pages = 235–237 | access-date = 2017-04-26 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170903065916/http://gdz.sub.uni-goettingen.de/en/dms/loader/img/?PID=PPN472755714%7CLOG_0066 | archive-date = 2017-09-03 | url-status = dead }} Accessed 29 December 2017 The first formal description was by Carl Linnaeus in the 10th edition of his Systema Naturae published in 1758. He introduced the binomial name, Fringilla carduelis.{{ cite book | editor-last=Paynter | editor-first=Raymond A. Jnr. | year=1968 | title=Check-list of Birds of the World, Volume 14 | volume=14 | publisher=Museum of Comparative Zoology | place=Cambridge, Massachusetts | pages=247–250 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14481448 }} Accessed 29 December 2017{{cite book | last=Linnaeus | first= C. | author-link= Carl Linnaeus | year=1758 | title= Systema Naturæ per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis, Volume 1| volume= 1 | edition=10th | page=180 | publisher=Holmiae:Laurentii Salvii | language = la | url= https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/727087 }} Accessed 29 December 2017 Carduelis is the Latin word for 'goldfinch'.{{cite book | last= Jobling | first= James A | year= 2010| title= The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | url= https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling |publisher = Christopher Helm | location = London | isbn = 978-1-4081-2501-4 | page=[https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling/page/n91 91] }} The European goldfinch is now placed in the genus Carduelis that was introduced by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760 by tautonomy based on Linnaeus's specific epithet.{{ cite book | editor-last=Paynter | editor-first=Raymond A. Jnr. | year=1968 | title=Check-list of Birds of the World, Volume 14 | volume=14 | publisher=Museum of Comparative Zoology | place=Cambridge, Massachusetts | page=234 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14481435 }} Accessed 29 December 2017{{ cite book | last=Brisson | first=Mathurin Jacques | author-link=Mathurin Jacques Brisson | title=Ornithologie | at=[https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/36010434 Volume 1 p. 36]; [https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/35953002 Volume 3 p. 53] | place=Paris | language=la, fr }} Accessed 29 December 2017 Modern molecular genetic studies have shown that the European goldfinch is closely related to the grey-crowned goldfinch (Carduelis caniceps), the citril finch (Carduelis citrinella) and the Corsican finch (Carduelis corsicana).{{cite journal | last1=Zuccon | first1=Dario | last2=Prŷs-Jones | first2=Robert | last3=Rasmussen | first3=Pamela C. | last4=Ericson | first4=Per G.P. | year=2012 | title=The phylogenetic relationships and generic limits of finches (Fringillidae) | journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution | volume=62 | issue=2 | pages=581–596 | doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2011.10.002 | pmid=22023825 | bibcode=2012MolPE..62..581Z | url=http://www.nrm.se/download/18.9ff3752132fdaeccb6800010935/Zuccon%20et%20al%202012.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304052714/http://www.nrm.se/download/18.9ff3752132fdaeccb6800010935/Zuccon%20et%20al%202012.pdf | archive-date=4 March 2016 }}

The English word 'goldfinch' was used in the second half of the 14th century by Geoffrey Chaucer in his unfinished The Cook's Tale: "Gaillard he was as goldfynch in the shawe (Gaily dressed he was as is a goldfinch in the woods)".{{cite web | url=http://sites.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/teachslf/ckt-par.htm | title=The Cook's Prologue and Tale: An Interlinear Translation (line 4367) | publisher=The President and Fellows of Harvard College | access-date=25 July 2015 | archive-date=16 January 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180116235529/http://sites.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/teachslf/ckt-par.htm | url-status=dead }}

Ten subspecies of the European goldfinch are now accepted following the split of the grey-headed caniceps group as a separate species.{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | title=Finches, euphonias | work= World Bird List Version 15.1| url=http://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/finches/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union| access-date=6 March 2025 }}{{cite journal | last=Clement | first=P. | title=European Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis) | editor1-last=del Hoyo | editor1-first=J | editor2-last=Elliott | editor2-first=A. | editor3-last=Sargatal | editor3-first=J. | editor4-last=Christie | editor4-first=D.A. | editor5-last=de Juana | editor5-first=E. | journal=Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive | year=2020 | publisher=Lynx Edicions | doi=10.2173/bow.eurgol.01 | s2cid=240701365 | url=http://www.hbw.com/node/61359 | access-date=11 November 2019 | url-access=subscription }}

• C. c. britannica (Hartert, 1903) – the British Isles
• C. c. carduelis (Linnaeus, 1758) – most of the European mainland, Scandinavia
• C. c. parva Tschusi, 1901 – Iberia, northwest Africa, and the Atlantic Macaronesia islands (the Canary Islands, Madeira)
• C. c. tschusii Arrigoni degli Oddi, 1902 – Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily
• C. c. balcanica Sachtleben, 1919 – southeastern Europe (Balkans, Greece, Crete, NW Turkey)
• C. c. niediecki Reichenow, 1907 – southwest Asia (Rhodes, Karpathos, Cyprus, Egypt to Asia Minor, northern Iraq, southwest Iran), northeast Africa
• C. c. brevirostris Zarudny, 1890 – eastern Turkey, the southern Caucasus, and northwestern Iran
• C. c. colchica Koudashev, 1915 – Crimea and the northern Caucasus
• C. c. volgensis Buturlin, 1906 – southern Ukraine, southwestern Russia and northwestern Kazakhstan
• C. c. frigoris Wolters, 1953 – western Siberia

The former caniceps group of subspecies, containing subspecies C. c. caniceps, C. c. paropanisi, C. c. subulata, and C. c. ultima, were shifted to a separate species, the grey-crowned goldfinch, by the International Ornithological Congress in 2023.

Garten-5730.jpg|C. c. carduelis, juvenile, Germany

Carduelis carduelis close up.jpg|C. c. britannica, Wigan, England

Carduelis carduelis EM1B1001 (41169717352).jpg|C. c. carduelis, Sweden

European goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis niediecki) Cyprus.jpg|C. c. niediecki, Cyprus

European goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis parva).jpg|C. c. parva, Algeria

The European goldfinch originated in the late Miocene-Pliocene and belongs to the clade of cardueline finches. The grey-crowned goldfinch, citril finch and Corsican finch are its sister taxa. Their closest relatives are the greenfinches, crossbills and redpolls.{{cite journal | last=Nagy | first=Jenő | year=2017 | title=Phylogeny and evolution of the European Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis) and its allies – a review of the 'bird of the year' | journal=Ornis Hungarica | volume=25 | issue=2 | pages=1–10 | doi=10.1515/orhu-2017-0011 | doi-access=free }} The monophyly of the subfamily Carduelinae is suggested in previous studies.{{cite journal | last1=Nguembock | first1=B. | last2=Fjeldså | first2=J. | last3=Couloux | first3=A. | last4=Pasquet | first4=E. | year=2009|title=Molecular phylogeny of Carduelinae (Aves, Passeriformes, Fringillidae) proves polyphyletic origin of the genera Serinus and Carduelis and suggests redefined generic limits | journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution | volume=51 | issue=2 | pages=169–181 | doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2008.10.022 | pmid=19027082| bibcode=2009MolPE..51..169N }}

The average European goldfinch is {{convert|12|–|13|cm|in|abbr=on}} long with a wingspan of {{convert|21|–|25|cm|in|abbr=on}} and a weight of {{convert|14|to|19|g|oz|abbr=on}}. The sexes are broadly similar, with a red face, black and white head, warm brown upper parts, white underparts with buff flanks and breast patches, and black and yellow wings.

On close view, male European goldfinches can often be distinguished by a larger, darker red mask that extends just behind the eye. The shoulder feathers are black, whereas they are brown on the female. In females, the red face does not extend past the eye. The ivory-coloured bill is long and pointed, and the tail is forked. Goldfinches in breeding condition have a pale bill, with a greyish or blackish mark at the tip for the rest of the year. Juveniles have a plain head and a greyer back but are unmistakable due to the yellow wing stripe.Clement, P., Harris, A., & Davis, J. (1993). Finches & Sparrows. Christopher Helm. {{ISBN|0-7136-8017-2}}.Svensson, L. (1992). Identification Guide to European Passerines. {{ISBN|91-630-1118-2}}. Adults moult after the breeding season, with some individuals beginning in July and others not completing their moult until November. After moult birds appear less colourful, until the tips of the newly grown feathers wear away.RSPB Handbook of British Birds (2014). {{ISBN|978-1-4729-0647-2}}.

The song is a pleasant silvery twittering. The call is a melodic {{not a typo|tickeLIT}}, and the song is a pleasant tinkling medley of trills and twitters, but always including the tri-syllabic call phrase or a {{not a typo|teLLIT-teLLIT-teLLIT}}.

The European goldfinch is native to Europe, North Africa, and western and central Asia. It is found in open, partially wooded lowlands and is a resident in the milder west of its range, but migrates from colder regions. It will also make local movements, even in the west, to escape bad weather.

It has been introduced to many areas of the world.Snow, D. W. & Perrins, C. M. (1998). The Birds of the Western Palearctic concise ed. Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|0-19-854099-X}}.

It was introduced to Bermuda,{{cite web | title=European Goldfinch | publisher=The Bermuda Audubon Society | url=http://www.audubon.bm/birding/bermuda-birds/75-european-goldfinch | access-date=2021-12-30 }} Canada, the United States, Mexico, Peru, Argentina, Chile, the Falkland Islands, Uruguay, Brazil, South Africa, Australia, and New ZealandLong, John L. (1981). Introduced Birds of the World. Agricultural Protection Board of Western Australia. pp. 21–493 in the 19th century, and their populations quickly increased and their range expanded greatly. In Australia, they now occur from Brisbane to the Eyre Peninsula, and are also spread throughout New Zealand.{{cite web | title=European Goldfinch | publisher=Birdlife Australia | url= http://www.birdlife.org.au/bird-profile/european-goldfinch | access-date=27 July 2013 }} In the United States, they have become established in the western Great Lakes region.{{Cite journal|last=Craves|first=J.A.|date=2008|title=Current status of European Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis) in the western Great Lakes region.|url=|journal=North American Birds|volume=62|pages=498–501|via=}}

File:Gold Finch eggs.jpg

The nest is built entirely by the female and is generally completed within a week. The male accompanies the female, but does not contribute.{{sfn|Cramp|Perrins|1994|pp=582-583}} The nest is neat and compact and is generally located several metres above the ground, hidden by leaves in the twigs at the end of a swaying branch.{{sfn|Newton|1972|p=37}} It is constructed of mosses and lichens and lined with plant down such as that from thistles. It is attached to the twigs of the tree with spider silk. A deep cup prevents the loss of eggs in windy weather.{{sfn|Newton|1972|p=175}} Beginning within a couple of days after the completion of the nest, the eggs are laid in early morning at daily intervals.{{sfn|Cramp|Perrins|1994|pp=582-583}} The clutch is typically 4–6 eggs, which are whitish with reddish-brown speckles.{{sfn|Newton|1972|p=37}} They have a smooth surface and are slightly glossy.{{sfn|Cramp|Perrins|1994|pp=582-583}} The average size is {{convert|17.3|x|13.0|mm|in|abbr=on}} with a calculated weight of {{convert|1.53|g|oz|abbr=on}}.{{sfn|Cramp|Perrins|1994|pp=582-583}} The eggs are incubated for 11–13 days by the female, who is fed by the male. The chicks are fed by both parents. Initially they receive a mixture of seeds and insects, but as they grow the proportion of insect material decreases.{{sfn|Newton|1972|p=178}} For the first 7–9 days the young are brooded by the female. The nestlings fledge 13–18 days after hatching. The young birds are fed by both parents for a further 7–9 days. The parents typically raise two broods each year and occasionally three.{{sfn|Cramp|Perrins|1994|pp=582-583}}

File:European Goldfinch - Flickr - gbsngrhm.jpg (Dipsacus fullonum) seeds, Scotland]]

The European goldfinch's preferred food is small seeds such as those from thistles (the Latin name is from Carduus, a genus of thistles), cornflowers, and teasels, but insects are also taken when feeding young. It also regularly visits bird feeders in winter. In the winter, European goldfinches group together to form flocks of up to 40, occasionally more. European goldfinches are attracted to back gardens in Europe and North America by birdfeeders containing nyjer (commercially described as nyjer) seed. This seed of an annual from Africa is small, and high in oils. Special polycarbonate feeders with small oval slits at which the European goldfinches feed are sometimes used.

File:Raffaello Sanzio - Madonna del Cardellino - Google Art Project.jpg by Raphael, {{circa|1505–6}}]]

File:Fabritius-vink.jpg by Carel Fabritius, 1654]]

European goldfinches are commonly kept and bred in captivity around the world because of their distinctive appearance and pleasant song. If European goldfinches are kept with domestic canaries, they tend to lose their native song and call in favour of their cagemates' songs. This is considered undesirable, as it detracts from the allure of keeping European goldfinches. In Great Britain during the 19th century, many thousands of European goldfinches were trapped each year to be sold as cage birds. One of the earliest campaigns of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds was directed against this trade.{{sfn|Newton|1972|pp=36-37}} Wildlife conservation attempts to limit bird trapping and the destruction of the open space habitats of European goldfinches.{{cite news |last1=Zafrir |first1=Rinat |title=Jerusalem of goldfinches is no more |url=https://www.haaretz.com/1.5356300 |agency=Haaretz |date=August 6, 2003}}

Steglitz, a borough of the German city of Berlin, is named after the European goldfinch.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vgmH5R71c4cC&q=steglitz%2520carduelis&pg=PA208|title=Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière: Oiseaux|date=1786|language=fr

| last= Du Buffon | volume= VII

|page=208}} The surname Goldspink is based on the Scots word for the European goldfinch.[https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/goldspink Collins Dictionary]

Because of the thistle seeds it eats, in Christian symbolism the European goldfinch is associated with Christ's Passion and his crown of thorns. The European goldfinch, appearing in pictures of the Madonna and Christ child, represents the foreknowledge Jesus and Mary had of the Crucifixion. Examples include the Madonna del cardellino or Madonna of the Goldfinch, painted by the Italian Renaissance artist Raphael in about 1505–6, in which John the Baptist offers a European goldfinch to Christ in a warning of his future. In Barocci's Holy Family, a European goldfinch is held in the hand of John the Baptist, who holds it high out of reach of an interested cat. In Cima da Conegliano's Madonna and Child, a European goldfinch flutters in the hand of the Christ child. It is also an emblem of endurance, fruitfulness, and persistence. Because it symbolizes the Passion, the European goldfinch is considered a "saviour" bird and may be pictured with the common housefly (which represents sin and disease).{{cite book|last=Werness|first=Hope B.|title=Animal Symbolism in World Art|year=2007|publisher=Continuum|isbn=978-0-8264-1913-2}} The European goldfinch is also associated with Saint Jerome and appears in some depictions of him.

Antonio Vivaldi composed a Concerto in D major for Flute "Il Gardellino" (RV 428, Op. 10 No. 3), where the singing of the European goldfinch is imitated by a flute. An anonymous Italian Neapolitan poem titled Il Cardellino{{Cite web|title=Il Cardellino|url=https://www.lieder.net/lieder/get_text.html?TextId=94437}} was put to music by Saverio Mercadante and sung by Jose Carreras.

European goldfinches, with their "wanton freak" and "yellow flutterings", are among the many natural "luxuries" that delight the speaker of John Keats' poem 'I stood tip-toe upon a little hill...' (1816).{{cite web|url=http://www.bartleby.com/126/2.html |title=2. I Stood tip-toe upon a little hill. Keats, John. 1884. The Poetical Works of John Keats |publisher=Bartleby.com |access-date=2012-12-27}}

In the poem The Great Hunger by Patrick Kavanagh, the European goldfinch is one of the rare glimpses of beauty in the life of an elderly Irish farmer:

{{Quote|

The goldfinches on the railway paling were worth looking at

A man might imagine then

Himself in Brazil and these birds the birds of paradise

}}

Donna Tartt's novel The Goldfinch{{cite web|last=Flood|first=Alison|title=Donna Tartt to publish first novel for 11 years|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/feb/13/donna-tartt-first-novel-11-years|work=The Guardian|access-date=10 October 2013|date=13 February 2013}} Further accessed 29 December 2017 won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.{{Cite web|last=The Pulitzer Prizes|title=The Goldfinch, by Donna Tartt (Little, Brown)|url=https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/donna-tartt|access-date=2023-02-06|website=www.pulitzer.org|language=en}} A turning point in the plot occurs when the narrator, Theo, sees his mother's favourite painting, Carel Fabritius's The Goldfinch, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

{{Reflist|26em}}

• {{ cite book | editor-last1=Cramp | editor-first1=Stanley | editor1-link=Stanley Cramp | editor-last2=Perrins | editor-first2=C.M. | year=1994 | title=Handbook of birds of Europe the Middle East and North Africa: Birds of the Western Palearctic, Volume 8: Crows to Finches | place=Oxford | publisher=Oxford University Press | isbn=0-19-854679-3 }}
• {{cite book | last=Newton | first=Ian | author-link=Ian Newton | year=1972 | title=Finches | publisher=Collins | place=London | isbn=0-00-213065-3 | series=The New Naturalist, Volume 55 }}

• {{ cite book | last=Friedmann | first=Herbert | year=1946 | title=The Symbolic Goldfinch: Its History and Significance in European Devotional Art | publisher=Pantheon Books | place=Washington DC | oclc=154129908 }}

{{Wikispecies|Carduelis carduelis}}

{{Commons}}

• [http://www.xeno-canto.org/species/Carduelis-carduelis Audio recordings from Xeno-canto]
• [http://ibc.lynxeds.com/species/european-goldfinch-carduelis-carduelis European Goldfinch videos, photos & sounds] on the Internet Bird Collection
• [http://blascozumeta.com/wp-content/uploads/aragon-birds/passeriformes/431.goldfinch-ccarduelis.pdf Ageing and sexing by Javier Blasco-Zumeta & Gerd-Michael Heinze] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190716120842/http://blascozumeta.com/wp-content/uploads/aragon-birds/passeriformes/431.goldfinch-ccarduelis.pdf |date=2019-07-16 }}
• [http://www.ornithos.de/Ornithos/Feather_Collection/Carduelis_carduelis/Carduelis_carduelis.htm Feathers of European Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180304042408/http://www.ornithos.de/Ornithos/Feather_Collection/Carduelis_carduelis/Carduelis_carduelis.htm |date=2018-03-04 }}
• [http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/g/goldfinch/index.aspx The RSPB: Goldfinch]

{{Birds in culture}}

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European goldfinch

Category:Birds of Europe

Category:Birds of North Africa

Category:Birds of Macaronesia

Category:Birds of West Asia

European goldfinch

European goldfinch