European greenfinch
Template:Short description Template:Speciesbox 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.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The specific epithet is from khloris, the Ancient Greek name for this bird, from khloros, "green".Template:Sfn
A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2012 found that the greenfinches are not closely related to other members of the genus Carduelis.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite book The year on the title page is An VIII.</ref><ref name=iou/><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Subspecies
There are 10 recognised subspecies.<ref name=iou>Template:Cite web</ref>
| Image | Name and describing authority | Range |
|---|---|---|
| File:Green finch (E) (3) (9108229195).jpg | C. c. harrisoni Clancey, 1940 | Great Britain (except northern Scotland) and Ireland |
| File:Carduelis chloris Jaroměř 2013 3.jpg | 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 | |
| File:Greenfinch (Chloris chloris aurantiiventris) Extremadura.jpg | 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 | |
| File:European greenfinch (Chloris chloris voousi) male.jpg | 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 |
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Description
The European greenfinch is Template:Convert long with a wingspan of Template:Convert. 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.<ref name=bwpc>Template:Cite book</ref> 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
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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.<ref name="Bensouilah 2015">Template:Cite journal</ref> The nest is placed in trees or bushes.<ref name="Bensouilah 2014">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Kosiński 2001">Template:Cite journal</ref> 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 Template:Cvt and weigh Template:Cvt. They are incubated by the female for 13–14 days.Template:Sfn 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.<ref name="Bensouilah 2014"/><ref name="Kosiński 2001"/>
In Australasia, the European greenfinch's breeding season is from October to March.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
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.Template:Sfn
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.<ref name=robinson2010>Template:Cite journal</ref> 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.<ref name=lawson2011>Template:Cite journal</ref> 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.<ref name=lawson2012>Template:Cite journal</ref> 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.<ref name=lehikoinen2013>Template:Cite journal</ref>
In literature
The English poet William Wordsworth wrote a poem about this species entitled The Green Linnet in 1803.<ref name="Poetical">Wordsworth, William "The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth". Copyright 1847, 1858 Edward Moxon, Dover Street, London. pp. 118-119.</ref><ref name="Poetry Found">Poetry Foundation The Green Linnet</ref>