The European greenfinch or simply the greenfinch (Chloris chloris) is a small passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae.
This bird is widespread throughout Europe, North Africa and Southwest Asia. It is mainly resident, but some of the populations from the far north migrate further south. The greenfinch has also been introduced into Australia, New Zealand, Uruguay, and Argentina.
The greenfinch was described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae under the binomial name Loxia chloris. The specific epithet is from khloris, the Ancient Greek name for this bird, from khloros, "green".
A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2012 found that the greenfinches are not closely related to other species of the genus Carduelis. They have therefore been placed in the resurrected genus Chloris, which was originally been introduced by the French naturalist Georges Cuvier in 1800. The European greenfinch is the type species of this genus.
There are 10 recognised subspecies.
The European greenfinch is long with a wingspan of . It is similar in size and shape to a house sparrow, but is mainly green, with yellow in the wings and tail. The female and young birds are duller and have brown tones on the back. The bill is thick and conical. The song contains a lot of trilling and twittering interspersed with wheezes, and the male performs a "butterfly" display flight. Male greenfinches exhibit higher degrees of fluctuating asymmetry. Their bones are more susceptible to disruption during development than those of females.
The breeding season lasts from the second half of March until June; fledging takes place in early July. Woodland edges, farmland hedges and gardens with relatively thick vegetation are favoured for breeding. The nest is placed in trees or bushes. The nest is built by the female who is accompanied by the male. The clutch consists of 4âÂÂ6 eggs which are typically laid at daily intervals, beginning one or two days after the nest is completed. The eggs are greyish-white, bluish-white, or beige, with reddish or brownish spots or blotches concentrated at the broader end. On average the eggs measure and weigh . They are incubated by the female for 13âÂÂ14 days. During this period, the male feeds her at the nest. The chicks are covered in thick, long, greyish-white down when they hatch. Both adults feeds them on during the first days, and later on a frequently regurgitated yellowish paste made of seeds. They leave the nest after about 13 days, but cannot fly yet. They usually fledge 16âÂÂ18 days after hatching. This species produces two or three broods per year.
In Australasia, the European greenfinch's breeding season is from October to March.
The European greenfinch feeds on a great variety of seeds, berries, fruit, buds, flowers and some arthropods. It forages in trees and bushes, and also on the ground.
The protozoal parasite Trichomonas gallinae is known to infect pigeons and raptors. However, beginning in Great Britain in 2005, carcasses of dead European greenfinches and common chaffinches were found to be infected with the parasite. The disease subsequently spread, with infected carcasses being found in Norway, Sweden and Finland in 2008 and in Germany the following year. It is believed that the spread of the disease was mediated by common chaffinches, given that large numbers of these birds breed in northern Europe and winter in Great Britain. In Great Britain, the number of infected carcasses recovered each year declined after peaking in 2006. The number of European greenfinches declined from around 4.3 million to around 2.8 million, but there was no significant change in the overall number of common chaffinches. A similar pattern occurred in Finland, where the number of European greenfinches declined after the arrival of the disease in 2008, but there was only a small change in the number of common chaffinches.
The English poet William Wordsworth wrote a poem about this species entitled The Green Linnet in 1803.