The European Greenfinch (Chloris chloris) is the olive-green, thick-billed finch that breeds throughout Sweden and is one of the most frequent visitors to garden bird feeders. It measures 14-16 cm in length, has a wingspan of 24-27 cm and weighs 25-35 grams, with a compact body and a strong, pink-grey, conical bill built for cracking hard seeds. The male is olive-green-yellow with brighter yellow edges on the primaries and tail sides, and grey wing feathers with yellow edging that create a striking pattern in flight; the female is browner and more diffusely streaked, while juveniles show clearer streaking on the breast and flanks but already carry the yellow wing edges.
The song is a repetitive, almost dreamy phrase of whistles and twitters ending in a drawn-out, nasal "tjiiib" or "dreey" that can last several seconds, delivered from an exposed perch such as a treetop or aerial; the call is a distinctive "tjüp-tjüp" or rapid "jitt-jitt" heard year-round from flocks. Breeding runs April to July, usually with two broods, in a cup nest of twigs, moss and roots lined with hair and feathers, placed 1-5 metres up in a dense bush or conifer; the female lays 4-6 blue-white eggs with reddish-brown spots, incubated for 13-14 days. The diet is dominated by oily, hard seeds such as sunflower, hemp and thistle, with rosehip, rowan and privet berries taken in autumn and winter. With a Swedish population once estimated at 300,000-500,000 pairs, the species has declined sharply since the trichomonas parasite began spreading through dirty feeding stations, and it is now classed as Vulnerable in Sweden.
Read about this species in Swedish →