Finches · Perching birds
Eurasian Bullfinch
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Pyrrhula pyrrhula
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Voice
Call
Song
Alarm
How to recognize it
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Slightly larger than a sparrow, with a stocky shape
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Adult male with rosy-red chest and belly; female with grey-brown underparts
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Black cap and face in adults; juveniles without a black cap
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White rump and pale wing bars especially visible in flight
About the species
An adult male has a rose-red chest and cheeks beneath a grey back, with a black cap and face. Females are more muted, with grey-buff underparts, while juveniles are ochre-brown and lack the black cap. In flight, the white rump and white bars across the black wings show clearly.
Outside the breeding season, it is usually seen in pairs or family groups rather than large flocks. Its low, quiet call sounds like "peeu"; the weak song combines soft whistles and warbling, and carries only over a short distance. When eating berries, it picks out the seeds and leaves much of the flesh behind.
It breeds in mixed woodland with conifers, and also uses parks and gardens. Seeds, buds and berries make up much of its food, with ash and hawthorn among its favored foods in autumn and early winter. It is mostly resident, though many northern populations move south for winter.
Did you know?
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Frost-proof on fatty ash
Fatty ash seeds give the bullfinch enough fuel to ride out any frost without a warm shelter — so long as no owl spots him on an open branch.
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Strips a tree clean
A bullfinch strips a tree from crown to lower branches so neatly it drops only two or three seeds out of ten, and as long as the food holds, it looks for nothing else.
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The female does the singing
In a winter flock of bullfinches it is almost always not the bright male but the female who sings — a quiet, creaking little song that none of the neighbours bother to listen to.
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Where to find
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In city parks and gardens in winter, especially during winter movements, scan bare branches for bullfinches — they are easier to spot there.
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In mixed woodland with conifers, peer into the dense understory for a pair or family group.
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In autumn and early winter, watch for feeding on seeds and buds in ash and hawthorn.
