European greenfinch
{{short description|Species of bird}}
{{Speciesbox
| name = European greenfinch
| status = LC
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| image = Chloris chloris (profile).jpg
| image_caption = Male C. c. chloris in Jena, Germany.
File:Carduelis chloris.ogg, Russia]]
| genus = Chloris
| species = chloris
| authority = (Linnaeus, 1758)
| range_map = ChlorisChlorisIUCN.svg
| range_map_caption = Range of the European greenfinch (Chloris chloris){{leftlegend|#00FF00|Breeding|outline=gray}} {{leftlegend|#008000|Resident|outline=gray}} {{leftlegend|#007FFF|Non-breeding|outline=gray}} {{leftlegend|#FFFF00|Extant & Introduced (resident)|outline=gray}} {{leftlegend|#FF80FF|Possible extinct & Introduced|outline=gray}}
| synonyms = *Loxia chloris {{small|Linnaeus, 1758}}
- Carduelis chloris {{small|(Linnaeus, 1758)}}
- Ligurinus chloris {{small|(Linnaeus)}}For Ligurinus chloris see for instance {{cite book |last=Bonhote |first=J. Lewis |author-link=J. Lewis Bonhote |others=illustrated by H.E. Dresser
|title=Birds of Britain
|date=1907 |location=London |publisher=Adam and Charles Black |url=https://archive.org/stream/birdsofbritain00bonh/birdsofbritain00bonh#page/114
|oclc=1451688
|pages=114/5}}. John Gould uses the scientific name Ligurinus chloris for the greenfinch in his The Birds of Great Britain ([https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/53040707 vol. 3, 1873, plate 38]).
- Coccothraustes chloris {{small|Flem.}}In The Birds of Europe ([https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/42357478 vol. 3, 1837, plate 57]) John Gould describes the "green grossbeak" (Coccothraustes chloris).
}}
The European greenfinch or simply the greenfinch (Chloris chloris) is a small passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae.
This bird is widespread throughout Europe, North Africa and Southwest Asia. It is mainly resident, but some northernmost populations migrate further south. The greenfinch has also been introduced into Australia, New Zealand, Uruguay, and Argentina.
Taxonomy
The greenfinch was described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae under the binomial name Loxia chloris.{{sfn|Paynter|1968|pp=[https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14481436 235–236]}}{{sfn|Linnaeus|1758|p=[https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/727081 174]}} The specific epithet is from khloris, the Ancient Greek name for this bird, from khloros, "green".{{sfn|Jobling|2010|p=102}}
A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2012 found that the greenfinches are not closely related to other members of the genus Carduelis.{{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 | url=http://www.nrm.se/download/18.9ff3752132fdaeccb6800010935/Zuccon%20et%20al%202012.pdf | pmid=22023825| bibcode=2012MolPE..62..581Z }} They have therefore been placed in the resurrected genus Chloris that had originally been introduced by the French naturalist Georges Cuvier in 1800, with the European greenfinch as the type species.{{ cite book | last=Cuvier | first=Georges | author-link=Georges Cuvier | year=1800 | title=Leçons d'anatomie comparée | place=Paris | publisher=Baudouin | volume=1 | at=Table 2 | url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/33516226}} The year on the title page is An VIII.{{ cite journal | last1=Sangster | first1=G. | display-authors=etal | date=October 2011 | title=Taxonomic recommendations for British birds: seventh report | journal=Ibis | volume=153 | issue=4 | pages=883–892 | doi=10.1111/j.1474-919X.2011.01155.x| doi-access= }}
=Subspecies=
There are 10 recognised subspecies.{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela Rasmussen | date=January 2023 | title=Finches, euphonias | work=IOC World Bird List Version 13.1 | url=http://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/finches/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=10 June 2023 }}
| class="wikitable"
|+ | ||
| Image | Name and describing authority | Range |
|---|---|---|
| 120px | C. c. harrisoni Clancey, 1940 | Great Britain (except northern Scotland) and Ireland |
| 120px | C. c. chloris (Linnaeus, 1758) | Northern Scotland, northern and central France and Norway to western Siberia |
| C. c. muehlei Parrot, 1905 | Serbia and Montenegro to Moldova, Bulgaria, and Greece | |
| 120px | C. c. aurantiiventris (Cabanis, 1851) | Southern Spain through southern Europe to western Greece |
| C. c. madaraszi Tschusi, 1911 | Corsica and Sardinia | |
| C. c. vanmarli Voous, 1952 | Northwestern Spain, Portugal and northwestern Morocco | |
| 120px | C. c. voousi (Roselaar, 1993) | Central Morocco and northern Algeria |
| C. c. chlorotica (Bonaparte, 1850) | South-central Turkey to northeastern Egypt | |
| C. c. bilkevitchi Zarudny, 1911 | Southern Ukraine, the Caucasus and northeastern Turkey to northern Iran and southwestern Turkmenistan | |
| C. c. turkestanica Zarudny, 1907 | Southern Kazakhstan to Kyrgyzstan and central Tajikistan |
Description
File:European Greenfinch male female.jpg
The European greenfinch is {{convert|15|cm|in|abbr=on}} long with a wingspan of {{convert|24.5|to|27.5|cm|in|abbr=on}}. It is similar in size and shape to a house sparrow, but is mainly green, with yellow in the wings and tail. The female and young birds are duller and have brown tones on the back. The bill is thick and conical.{{cite book | editor1-last=Snow | editor1-first=D.W. | editor2-last=Perrins | editor2-first=C.M. | year=1998 | chapter=Greenfinch (Carduelis chloris) | title=The Birds of the Western Palearctic: Concise Edition. Volume 2: Passerines | place=Oxford | publisher=Oxford University Press | isbn=978-0-19-850188-6 | pages=1557–1560}} The song contains a lot of trilling twitters interspersed with wheezes, and the male has a "butterfly" display flight.
Male greenfinch birds exhibit higher degrees of fluctuating asymmetry. The development of males' bones is more subject to disruption than that of females.
Behaviour and ecology
=Breeding=
File:Cuculus canorus bangsi MHNT.ZOO.2010.11.150.42.jpg]]
File:Chloris chloris aurantiiventris MHNT.ZOO.2010.11.232.12.jpg]]
File:Greenfinch Nest 17-07-10 (4809786391).jpg
The breeding season lasts from the second half of March until June; fledging takes place in early July.
Woodland edges, farmland hedges and gardens with relatively thick vegetation are favoured for breeding.{{cite journal|last1=Bensouilah | first1=T. |last2=Brahmia | first2=H. | last3=Zeraoula | first3=A. |last4=Bouslama | first4=Z. | last5=Houhamdi | first5=M. |year=2015 |title=Variation in nest placement by the European Greenfinch Chloris chloris in relation to the age of orange trees| journal=Zoology and Ecology| doi=10.1080/21658005.2015.1126156 | volume=26 | issue=1| pages=9–14}} The nest is placed in trees or bushes.{{cite journal|last1=Bensouilah | first1=Taqiyeddine |last2=Brahmia | first2=Hafid | last3=Zeraoula | first3=Ali |last4=Bouslama | first4=Zihad | last5=Houhamdi | first5=Moussa |year=2014 |title=Breeding biology of the European Greenfinch Chloris chloris in the loquat orchards of Algeria (North Africa) | journal=Zoology and Ecology|volume=24 | issue=3| pages=199–207| doi=10.1080/21658005.2014.934514| bibcode=2014ZooEc..24..199B }}{{cite journal|last=Kosiński|first=Ziemowit |year=2001 |title=The breeding ecology of the greenfinch Carduelis chloris in urban conditions (study in Krotoszyn, W Poland) | journal=Acta Ornithologica |volume=36| issue=2 | pages=111–121 | doi=10.3161/068.036.0203 |doi-access=free}} The nest is built by the female who is accompanied by the male. The clutch consists of 4–6 eggs which are laid at daily intervals usually beginning one or two days after the completion of the nest. The eggs are greyish-white, bluish-white or beige with reddish or brownish spots or blotches concentrated at the broader end. On average the eggs measure {{cvt|20.0|x|14.6|mm}} and weigh {{cvt|2.17|g}}. They are incubated by the female for 13–14 days.{{sfn|Cramp|1994|pp=542-543}} The male feeds her at the nest during this period. Chicks are covered with thick, long, greyish-white down at hatching. They are fed on insect larvae by both adults during the first days, and later, by a frequently regurgitated yellowish paste made of seeds. They leave the nest about 13 days later, but they are not able to fly. Usually, they fledge 16–18 days after hatching. This species produces two or three broods per year.
In Australasia, the European greenfinch's breeding season is from October to March.{{cite book|last1=Robertson | first1=Hugh A. | last2=Heather | first2=B.D. | last3=Onley | first3=Derek J. | year=2005 | title=The Hand Guide to the Birds of New Zealand | place=Auckland, New Zealand | publisher=Penguin Books | isbn=978-0-14-028835-3 | page=160}}
=Food and feeding=
The European greenfinch feeds on a great variety of seeds, berries, fruit, buds, flowers and some arthropods. It forages in trees and bushes, and also on the ground.{{sfn|Cramp|1994|pp=553-555}}
Predators and parasites
The protozoal parasite Trichomonas gallinae was known to infect pigeons and raptors, but, beginning in Great Britain in 2005, carcasses of dead European greenfinches and common chaffinches were found to be infected with the parasite.{{cite journal | last=Robinson | first=R A | year=2010 | title= Emerging infectious disease leads to rapid population declines of common British birds | journal=PLOS ONE | volume=5 | issue=8 | doi= 10.1371/journal.pone.0012215 |display-authors=etal | pmid=20805869 | pmc=2923595 | pages=e12215| bibcode=2010PLoSO...512215R | doi-access=free }} The disease spread and in 2008, infected carcasses were found in Norway, Sweden and Finland and a year later in Germany. The spread of the disease is believed to have been mediated by common chaffinches, as large numbers of the birds breed in northern Europe and winter in Great Britain.{{cite journal | last1=Lawson | first1=B. | year=2011 | title=Evidence of spread of emerging infectious disease, finch trichomonosis, by migrating birds | journal= Ecohealth | volume=8 | issue=2 | pages=143–153 | doi=10.1007/s10393-011-0696-8 | pmid=21935745 | s2cid=13343152 |display-authors=etal}} In Great Britain, the number of infected carcasses recovered each year declined after a peak in 2006. There was a reduction in the number of European greenfinches from around 4.3 million to around 2.8 million, but no significant decline in the overall number of common chaffinches.{{cite journal | last1=Lawson | first1=B| year=2012 | title= The emergence and spread of finch trichomonosis in the British Isles | journal= Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B | volume=367 | issue=1604 | pages=2852–2863 | jstor=41740010 | doi= 10.1098/rstb.2012.0130 | pmid=22966140|display-authors=etal| pmc=3427565}} A similar pattern occurred in Finland where, after the arrival of the disease in 2008, there was a reduction in the number of European greenfinches but only a small change in the number of common chaffinches.{{cite journal | last1= Lehikoinen | first1=A. | last2= Lehikoinen | first2=E. | last3= Valkama | first3=J. | last4= Väisänen | first4=R.A. | last5= Isomursu | first5=M. | date=April 2013 | title= Impacts of trichomonosis epidemics on Greenfinch Chloris chloris and Chaffinch Fringilla coelebs populations in Finland | journal=Ibis | volume=155 | issue=2 | pages=357–366 | doi=10.1111/ibi.12028}}
In literature
The English poet William Wordsworth wrote a poem about this species entitled The Green Linnet in 1803.Wordsworth, William "The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth". Copyright 1847, 1858 Edward Moxon, Dover Street, London. pp. 118-119.Poetry Foundation [https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45519/the-green-linnet The Green Linnet]
References
{{Reflist|30em}}
Sources
- {{ cite book | editor1-last=Cramp | editor1-first=Stanley | display-editors=etal | editor1-link=Stanley Cramp | year=1994 | chapter=Carduelis chloris Greenfich | title=Handbook of the Birds of Europe the Middle East and North Africa. The Birds of the Western Palearctic | volume=VIII: Crows to Finches | location=Oxford | publisher=Oxford University Press | pages=548–569 | isbn=978-0-19-854679-5 }}
- {{ cite book | last1=Collar | first1=N.J. | last2=Newton | first2=I. | last3=Clement | first3=P. | year=2010 | chapter=Family Fringillidae (Finches) | editor1-last=del Hoyo | editor1-first=J. | editor2-last=Elliott | editor2-first=A. | editor3-last=Christie | editor3-first=D.A. | title=Handbook of the Birds of the World | volume=15: Weavers to New World Warblers | location=Barcelona, Spain | publisher=Lynx Edicions | isbn=978-84-96553-68-2| pages=440–617 | chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/handbookofbirdso0015unse/page/440/mode/1up | chapter-url-access=registration }}
- {{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 }}
- {{cite book | last=Linnaeus | first = C. | author-link = Carl Linnaeus | title = Systema naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Tomus I. Editio decima, reformata. | publisher=Holmiae:Laurentii Salvii | year=1758 | language = la | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=E20ZAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA179 }}
- {{cite book | editor-last=Paynter | editor-first=Raymond A. Jnr | year=1968 | title=Check-list of Birds of the World Volume 14 | publisher=Museum of Comparative Zoology | place=Cambridge, Massachusetts }}
External links
{{Commons|Carduelis chloris}}
- [http://www.xeno-canto.org/species/Chloris-chloris Audio recordings from Xeno-canto]
- [http://ibc.lynxeds.com/species/european-greenfinch-carduelis-chloris Videos and photos from the Internet Bird Collection]
- [http://aulaenred.ibercaja.es/wp-content/uploads/430_GreenfichC.chloris.pdf Ageing and sexing by Javier Blasco-Zumeta & Gerd-Michael Heinze] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161108190959/http://aulaenred.ibercaja.es/wp-content/uploads/430_GreenfichC.chloris.pdf |date=2016-11-08 }}
- [http://www.ornithos.de/Ornithos/Feather_Collection/Carduelis_chloris/Carduelis_chloris.htm Feathers of European greenfinch (Carduelis chloris)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180304100139/http://www.ornithos.de/Ornithos/Feather_Collection/Carduelis_chloris/Carduelis_chloris.htm |date=2018-03-04 }}
{{Taxonbar |from=Q27075785}}