The colorful, but shy bullfinch is a welcome, rare addition to the garden.

2 years ago
11

Bullfinches are relatively recent users of our garden feeders, having been attracted to feeders by sunflowers and other seeds. Seeds make up most of their diet and they favour plants like ash, elm and common nettle, but they do take insects when feeding their young.

They are only seen in about 10 per cent of BTO Garden BirdWatch gardens because they are extremely shy birds. They favour deciduous woodland but have been increasing in gardens since the late 1990s.
You are much more likely to see a bullfinch than to hear one. They have a very soft and subtle call, a low, short whistle ‘peu’.

The male breeding song is also very quiet, consisting of a descending series of notes, repeated at intervals. In addition, they are skilful mimics and were popular cage birds at one point, with people determined to teach them different tunes that were played to them.

The bullfinch is a hard bird to keep track of and a hard bird to monitor in scientific surveys. However, they do stand out if you’re lucky enough to see one. The species is a medium-sized finch that has quite a round body, with a large robust bill.

Males and females have a black cap that extends forward around the bill, a grey back, black wings with a grey-white wing bar, a black tail and a white rump. However, while the female and juveniles are pinkish-grey, the male stands out with rose-red underparts. Now is the best time to see them in gardens, so keep a lookout.

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