Michele Mendi

Palaearctic finch with nine subspecies with Eurasian distribution (BirdLife International 2021). Migratory behavior ranges from resident to partial migrant or migrant. Movements within Europe, often promoted by food shortage as irruptions, variable among years, rather than true periodic migrations (Fox et al. 2009).

Season of assessment

B

Population trendIncreasing
Population size
(min-max, best estimate)		9790000-17300000,12900000
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 Eurasian Bullfinch

A remarkable fraction of recoveries show random displacements from ringing area, probably reflecting in these cases local/short-range dispersal, rather than true migrations. Over 50% of mapped data correspond to ring-recovery data from N Europe. N and E European bullfinches move S (from SW to SE) to overwinter S of their breeding range (Clement 2010). N Scandinavian birds show many recoveries in S Scandinavia and the circum-Baltic area. A recovery from N Kazakhstan in C Europe. Longer-distance recoveries from C European populations mostly across a NE-SW axis, exceptionally reaching SW Europe (Portugal). W/NW populations mostly show short-range movements.

Recoveries by Condition for Eurasian Bullfinch

Overall, most recoveries obtained through ringing (82%). Before 1960, a remarkable proportion of recovery data (43%) were due to recoveries of birds found dead, sick or wounded, with also a small (10%) proportion of dead recoveries by shot. The proportion of dead recoveries has decreased greatly with time, so that from 1991 to present these comprise less than 5%.

Annual Movements for Eurasian Bullfinch

Movements to S normally from Oct to Nov. Within-winter displacements also possible, normally caused by food shortage and bad weather such as heavy snow falls, which can give rise to scape movements (Meller et al. 2016). Return to breeding quarters in Mar-Apr. (Clement 2010).

Connectivity by Month by Region for Eurasian Bullfinch

Distances travelled tend to increase with increasing breeding latitude or longitude. Thus, bullfinches from S, W and NW Europe mostly resident, with most recoveries being short-range local dispersal. Birds from N and E Europe can reach wintering areas over a broad range from W/SW Europe to E/SE Europe, with these recoveries being obtained mostly from Oct to Mar.

Olatz Aizpurua & Juan Arizaga

References

Statistics Map
N records N individuals N recoveries
Mapped data*
Total available data
*Mapped data include only distant (>= 50 km) recoveries
References Map
BirdLife International 2021 . Species factsheet: Pyrrhula pyrrhula.
Fox, A.D., Kobro,S., Lehikoinen, A., Lyngs, P., Väisänen, R.A.2009 . Northern Bullfinch Pyrrhula p. pyrrhula irruptive behaviour linked to rowanberry Sorbus aucuparia abundance. Ornis Fennica 86: 51–60
Meller, K., Vähätalob, A.V., Hokkanenc, T., Rintalad, J., Pihaa, M.,& Lehikoinena, A.2016 . Inter-annual variation and long-term trends in proportions of resident individuals in partially migratory birds. Journal of Animal Ecology 85 Link to Article (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.12486) : 570–580
Peter Clement2010 . Finches and Sparrows. Helm Identification Guides. ISBN: 1408135302, 9781408135303A & C Black, London 512pp

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