Food
Mainly large seeds, berries and buds of fruit trees, taken from a bush or from the ground. Occasionally beetles and other animal matter. Young feed on insects.
Voice
A simple and reedy 'dwee', usually uttered from a perch, near the top of a tree, during the breeding season. A harsh, chittering, 'chwitit' or 'chwitchit-chit-chit-chit'. A nasal, buzzing, 'tzwee-tzwee-tzwee' and a rapid twitter, uttered in flight. Song, a twittering trill
European Greenfinch (Chloris chloris) [XC845864]
by Wim Jacobs from Pla\u00e7a Vila VNG - Catalunya, Spain (nocturnal flight call)
European Greenfinch (Chloris chloris) [XC871150]
by Beatrix Saadi-Varchmin from Tiszacsege, Balmaz\u00fajv\u00e1ros District, Hajd\u00fa-Bihar, Hungary (song)
Nest
Bulky, cup-shaped, composed of twigs, grass and moss, softly lined with rootlets and feathers, in the fork of a tree or dense bush, from ground level up to about 10 meters above the ground.
Eggs (Guide)
4 - 6; greyish- or bluish-white, sparsely spotted red, purple and black; oval; about 21 x 15 mm. Incubation: 13 - 14 days; by female.
Subspecies in Australia are probably chloris and harrisoni.
The following 10 subspecies are recognised:
harrisoni Clancey, 1940 - Britain (except northern Scotland) and Ireland.
chloris (Linnaeus, 1758) - Northern Scotland, Norway and northern and central France east to central Urals, north-western Kazakhstan and western Siberia, south to Hungary and northern Ukraine; north-eastern breeders migrate to southern Europe.
aurantiiventris (Cabanis, 1851) - Madeira, Canary Is, southern France and Spain (except north-west) east to Croatia, western and southern Greece, Crete, Dodecanese and Cyprus, also northern Tunisia and north-western Libya. Non-breeding also Morocco east to northern Egypt.
muehlei Parrot, 1905 - Serbia, Macedonia, Romania and Moldova south to central and eastern Greece. Non-breeding also east to western Asia Minor.
vanmarli Voous, 1952 - North-western Spain, Portugal and north-western Morocco.
voousi (Roselaar, 1993) - Central Morocco east to northern Algeria.
madaraszi Tschusi, 1911 - Corsica and Sardinia.
chlorotica (Bonaparte, 1850) - South-central Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, western Jordan and north-eastern Egypt.
bilkevitchi Zarudny, 1911 - Southern Ukraine (Crimea) east to Caucasus, north-eastern Turkey, northern Iran and south-western Turkmenistan.
turkestanica Zarudny, 1907 - Western and northern Tien Shan from southern Kazakhstan south to Kyrgyzstan and central Tajikistan. Winters south to north-western Afghanistan.
The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Pizzey, G., and Knight, E., 1997, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 19691 5
Field Guide to Australian Birds Morecombe, M., 2000, Steve Parish Publishing Pty Ltd. ISBN 1 876282 10 X
Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Simpson, K., and Day, N., 1999, 6th Edition, Viking ISBN 0 670 87918 5
Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds 1988, 2nd Edition, Reader's Digest ISBN 0 949819 99 9
What Bird is That? 1984, Revised Edition, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 14846 5
Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds 1990 - , Oxford University Press, Melbourne ISBN 0 19 553244 9
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BirdLife International Species Factsheet