what a feast. shove up, shove up. the queue is a scrum.
Greenfinch says
Bird 6 of 30 · video, 12:17
Greenfinch
Chloris chloris
A green bird table regular with a stout conical bill, a wheezy twitter and a bit of a queueing problem.
- Small, 27.7 g
- Stays all year
- Hedge or shrub
- High in a tree
- On a feeder or bird table
- In a tree
About the greenfinch
Marks and dots
Tap a numbered dot, or a name in the list.
Both sexes are green; the male is the brighter.
A quite distinctive, conical bill made for peanuts and sunflower seeds.
The female is much duller, and is often mistaken for a house sparrow.
From egg to adult
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Egg
Eggs4–5 eggs video, BTO agrees
Hatch after14 days≠BTOthe video says 13 days
-
Chick in the nest
In the nest forabout 14 days video, BTO agrees
-
Young bird
The video does not describe young greenfinches.
Adult
Green, with a stout conical bill
Broods a year2 broods video, BTO agrees
BTO averages: 14 days incubating the eggs, then 15 days in the nest. Averages across nest records, so the figures above can differ a little.
At the table
- peanuts
- sunflower seeds
Peanuts and sunflower seeds. When food is on offer they come in numbers and form a companionable but disorderly queue.
This page mentions bird tables. Since April 2026 the RSPB and the BTO advise against them, and say to feed seeds and peanuts only from November to April. What changed, and why.
Through the year
Greenfinch: around Jan to Dec; bird tables, winter and spring, Dec to May; flocks head for the countryside, Aug to Nov; first eggs laid 5 Apr to 5 Jul, average 10 May (BTO); first chicks leave the nest 2 May to 4 Aug (worked out from BTO).
What to know about the greenfinch
Eight short notes in our own words. Each chip says what the note stands on, and links to its row in the table below.
What to look for
Green, with a conical bill that is quite distinctive and ideally suited to peanuts and sunflower seeds. It can be mistaken for a siskin, but a greenfinch is considerably larger.
Male and female
Both sexes are green, but the female is much duller and is often mistaken for a house sparrow.
The young
The video does not describe young greenfinches.
not in the video
Song and call
A twittering song with a long wheezy note dropped in. The flight is undulating, often with the twittering call.
Feeding
Peanuts and sunflower seeds. When food is on offer they come in numbers and form a companionable but disorderly queue.
Staying or leaving
In late summer and autumn, flocks or family parties move out to the countryside to find food. Where people keep stocking the garden tables, this is one bird that rarely wanders far. BTO says greenfinches are here all year, with winter visitors from Scandinavia.
Sources and checks
Where every fact about the greenfinch came from
18 claims about the greenfinch: 5 checked, 9 from the video only,1 differ, 3 from a source only. How the grades work
| Claim, in our words | Video time | Grade | What the source says |
|---|---|---|---|
| Both sexes are green, but the female is much duller. | 12:22 | checked | BTO, read 2026-10-05BTO says males have distinctive green plumage and that females and juveniles are duller. |
| The female is often mistaken for a house sparrow. | 12:28 | video only | |
| The conical bill is distinctive and suited to peanuts and sunflower seeds. | 12:29 | video only | |
| Greenfinches can be mistaken for siskins, but are considerably larger. | 13:32 | video only | |
| Sometimes they appear in large numbers, forming companionable but disorderly queues when food is on offer. | 12:38 | video only | |
| Greenfinches are popular bird-table visitors, mostly through winter and spring. | 12:17 | video only | |
| Nesting is untidy and bulky, in shrubs, trees and hedges. | 12:47 | video only | |
| There are usually two broods in a year.video: 2 broods | 12:53 | checked | BTO, read 2026-10-05: 2 broods (BTO typical)inside BTO's typical range of 2 |
| Occasionally there will be three broods. | 12:55 | video only | BTO lists two broods as typical and gives no exceptional third. |
| Four to five eggs.video: 4–5 eggs | 12:58 | checked | BTO, read 2026-10-05: 4–5 eggs (BTO typical)inside BTO's typical range of 4–5 |
| The eggs hatch after 13 days.video: 13 days | 12:58 | ≠differs | BTO, read 2026-10-05: 14 days (BTO typical)outside BTO's typical range of 14, though inside the 11–16.5 BTO has observed |
| A young bird flies the nest just over two weeks later.video: about 14 days | 13:00 | checked | BTO, read 2026-10-05: 13.5–16 days (BTO typical)inside BTO's typical range of 13.5–16 |
| In late summer and autumn, flocks or family parties move to the countryside for food, but where people stock garden tables this bird rarely strays far. | 13:03 | video only | |
| BTO says greenfinches are found all year, with winter numbers boosted by birds migrating from Scandinavia. | source only | source only | BTO, read 2026-10-05BTO's introduction to the species. |
| The song is twittering, with a long wheezy note. | 13:20 | checked | BTO, read 2026-10-05BTO describes a twittering song with a distinct drawn-out wheeze. |
| The flight is undulating and often comes with a twittering call. | 13:27 | video only | |
| Adult weight, from ringing records: 27.7 g, adult average. | source only | source only | BTO, read 2026-10-05: 27.7 g, adult average |
| Timing of the first clutch: first eggs laid around 10 May (5 Apr-5 Jul). | source only | source only | BTO, read 2026-10-05: first eggs laid around 10 May (5 Apr-5 Jul) |
Written in our own words after “British Birds in your Garden” by The Great British Channel, where the greenfinch starts at 12:17.Numbers are checked against the BTO's page for the greenfinch, read on 5 October 2026. We are not connected to the channel or to the BTO.
More birbs: 30 so far, and more to come
The coins down the right of the screen are all 30. Tap one to go to that bird.