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Australian Wildlife

  European Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis)





European Goldfinch | Carduelis carduelis photo
European Goldfinch

Photograph copyright: Nickolay Tilcheff - all rights reserved. Used with permission.







EUROPEAN GOLDFINCH FACTS

Description
The European Goldfinch is a small finch native to Europe. It has been introduced to numerous other countries including Australia. The head is black and white with a red face. The upper parts are pale brown and underside is pale. The wings are black with a yellow bar and the tail is black. The female is similar to the male with smaller red area on the face. Young birds have a grey head and grey back but can be recognised by the yellow wing stripe.

Size
12 cm

Habitat
open woodland

Food
small seeds and insects

Breeding
the nest is a deep cup made of moss and lichen and lined with plant down. It is built several metres above the ground amongst twigs. The female lays four to six whitish eggs with small speckles

Range
found in eastern and southern New South Wales, victoria, south east of South Australia an Tasmania. Also around Perth in Western Australia

distribution map showing range of Carduelis carduelis in Australia

Credits:
Map is from Atlas of Living Australia website at https://biocache.ala.org.au licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.



Classification
Class:Aves
Order:Passeriformes
Family:Fringillidae
Genus:Carduelis
Species:carduelis
Common Name:European Goldfinch

Relatives in same Genus
  European Greenfinch (C. chloris)
  Common Redpoll (C. flammea)