Michele Mendi

Large and powerful finch breeding over much of Europe from C Sweden, S Finland far into Russia, S to S France to Greece, C. Spain. Race buvryi in NWAfrica, nigricans Crimea, Caucasus. Sedentary, locally dispersive or partially migratory in Europe. Prefers broadleaved woodland; reaches highest densities in broadleaved forests in UK (Kirby et al 2015), also in mixed forest, parks and gardens; orchards, olive groves, steppe-woodlands and thorn thickets in S. Diet predominantly seeds, buds and shoots of trees and shrubs, nestlings fed with small invertebrates. 2,600,000-5,070,000 breeding pairs in Europe, moderately increasing.

Season of assessment

B

Population trendIncreasing
Population size
(min-max, best estimate)		7280000-12100000,9290000
Red List categoryLC
Franks, S., Fiedler, W., Arizaga, J., Jiguet, F., Nikolov, B., van der Jeugd, Ambrosini, R, Aizpurua, O., Bairlein, F., Clark, J., Fattorini, N, Hammond, M., Higgins, D, Levering, H., Skellorn, W., Spina, F, Thorup, K. Walker, J., Woodward, I. and Baillie, S.R. (1) (2022) Online Atlas of the movements of European bird populations. https://migrationatlas.org EURING/CMS (1) Principal investigator
Map

Overall Connectivity for Hawfinch

Predominant direction of movement from NE to SW-W, with British population largely sedentary, N populations moving SSW, and most SE European birds moving due W to Italy. Birds from Fennoscandia and Baltic show longest movements. N Italy and S France receive bulk of migrating and wintering birds from C and E Europe and act as a hotspot in Oct-Dec, but may be biased because of high hunting pressure. Few birds on autumn migration in C Europe and Italy reached Morocco, Algeria or Tunisia. Shows signs of irruptive migration and numbers wintering in Italy vary greatly (Schmidt & Gatter 1986; Newton 2006).

Recoveries by Condition for Hawfinch

Some 13% of reencounters are ring recoveries, most frequent in Belgium, E Germany, Czech republic, Slovakia and Hungary, and N Italy. One third refer to birds that were shot or intentionally taken, mainly in Italy and S France, but this has stopped completely after 1990, while the importance of ringing recoveries increased. Another third refer to birds that were found dead from other causes, and these arse spread evenly across the entire range.

Annual Movements for Hawfinch

Band of recoveries from Belgium, Germany, SE to Czech Republic and Hungary in Jan-Aug represents main European breeding area, where birds present year-round. From mid Sep to end Dec eye-catching concentration directly S of Alps in Italy, and C Italy and S France, with highest density in Oct, probably related to large-scale hunting. fading out in Jan-Mar. Italy vacated in Apr, no birds present in May-Aug. Fennoscandia has most birds present in Feb-Jun, fewer in other months.

Connectivity by Month by Region for Hawfinch

Most birds in N Europe caught Jan-May, connecting to British Isles Mar-Apr, N. Germany, Netherlands Sep-Mar, and to S France, Italy Oct-Feb. Fewer birds in Jun-Dec, connecting shorter distances in all months and directions. E European birds mainly caught Apr-May and Aug-Oct in Baltic, connecting to C Europe, France and Italy in Oct-Apr. Birds in C Europe in Apr-Sep connect from a band stretching from N Germany to Hungary, to S France and N and C Italy in Oct-Dec, with Eastern birds connecting strongly to Italy (Halmos & Csörgő 1999), western birds to France. Mixed pattern in Oct-Mar with birds moving NE within region, or continuing to Fennoscandia, Baltic or further in May-Aug. SW Europe attracts birds from C Europe in Oct-Jan, fewer Feb-Apr. Very few connections in May-Sep, within the region or to C Europe.

Henk van der Jeugd

References

Statistics Map
N records N individuals N recoveries
Mapped data*
Total available data
*Mapped data include only distant (>= 50 km) recoveries
References Map
Halmos, G., Csörgő, T.1999 . Migration and wintering of finches (Fringillidae) in the Carpathian Basin according to foreign recoveries. Ornis Hungarica 8: 1–12
Kirby, W.B., Bellamy, P.E., Stanbury, A.J., Bladon, A.J., Grice, P.V., Gillings, S.2015 . Breeding season habitat associations and population declines of British Hawfinches Coccothraustes coccothraustes. Bird Study 62 Link to Article (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00063657.2015.1046368) : 348–357
Newton, I.2006 . Advances in the study of irruptive migration. Ardea 94: 433–460
Schmid, U. Gatter, W.1986 . The influence of irruptions on the flock pattern of migrating hawfinches coccothraustes coccothraustes. Vogelwarte 33: 335–338

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