finch n : any of numerous small songbirds with short stout bills adapted for crushing seeds

English

Etymology

Old English finċ.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɪntʃ

Noun

finch (plural finches)

1. Any bird of the family Fringillidae, seed-eating passerine birds, native chiefly to the northern hemisphere and usually having a conical beak.

Translations

Derived terms

• bullfinch
• chaffinch
• crimson-winged finch
• desert finch
• goldfinch
• gold-naped finch
• greenfinch
• hawfinch
• mountain finch
• oriole finch
• red-browed finch
• rosefinch
• scarlet finch
• spectacled finch
• trumpeter finch

See also

• brambling
• crossbill
• redpoll
• serin
• siskin

Verb

1. To hunt for finches, to go finching.

Finches are passerine birds, often seed-eating, found chiefly in the northern hemisphere and Africa. One subfamily is endemic to the Neotropics. The family scientific name Fringillidae comes from the Latin word "fringilla", meaning chaffinch, a member of this family that is common in Europe. The taxonomic structure of the true finch family, Fringillidae, is somewhat disputed, with some including the Hawaiian honeycreepers as another subfamily (Drepanidinae) and/or uniting the cardueline and fringilline finches as tribes (Carduelini and Fringillini) in one subfamily; the euphonious finches were thought to be tanagers due to general similarity in appearance and mode of life until their real affinities were realized; the buntings and American sparrows were formerly considered another subfamily (Emberizinae). Przewalski's "Rosefinch" (Urocynchramus pylzowi) is now classified as a distinct, monotypic family with no particularly close relatives (Groth 2000).

"Classic" or true finches are small to moderately large and have strong, stubby beaks, which in some species can be quite large. All have 12 tail feathers and 9 primaries. They have a bouncing flight, alternating bouts of flapping with gliding on closed wings, and most sing well. Their nests are basket-shaped and built in trees. The true finches range in size from the Andean Siskin (Carduelis spinescens), at 9.5 cm (3.8 inches) and 8.4 g., to the Collared Grosbeak (Mycerobas affinis), at nearly 23 cm (9 inches) and 79 g. (2.8 oz).

There are many birds in other families which are often called finches. These include many species in the very similar-looking Estrildids or waxbill family, which occur in the Old World tropics and Australia. Several groups of the Emberizidae family (buntings and American sparrows) are also named as finches, as are Darwin's finches of the Galapagos islands, which provided evidence of natural selection.

Systematics

The systematics of the cardueline finches are contentious. The layout presented here follows the molecular studies of Marten & Johnson (1986) and Arnaiz-Villena et al. (1998, 2001, 2007, 2008), and takes into account the traditional splitting of the genus Carduelis. The exact position of several genera in the cardueline sequence is tentative.

Family Fringillidae

• Subfamily Fringillinae - Fringilline finches; contains only three species, which feed their young on insects rather than seeds.
  • Genus Fringilla - Brambling and the chaffinches
    • Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs)
    • Blue Chaffinch (Fringilla teydea)
    • Brambling (Fringilla montifringilla)

• Subfamily Carduelinae - Cardueline finches; a much larger group that contains several genera which feed their young on seeds. Studies of mitochondrial DNA suggest this subfamily consists of several well-defined clades.
  • Hawfinches and Asian Grosbeaks.
    • Genus Eophona - oriental grosbeaks
    • Genus Coccothraustes - Hawfinch, Evening Grosbeak - polyphyletic?
    • Genus Mycerobas - Mycerobas grosbeaks
  • American Rosefinches.
    • Genus "Carpodacus" - House Finch, Cassin's Finch, and Purple Finch
  • Bullfinches.
    • Genus Pinicola - Pine Grosbeak
    • Genus Pyrrhula - bullfinches
  • "Arid-zone" clade.
    • Genus Leucosticte - mountain finches
    • Genus N.N. - Dark-breasted Rosefinch, "Carpodacus" nipalensis
    • Genus Rhodopechys - Trumpeter Finch and relatives
  • Asian Rosefinches.
    • Genus Carpodacus - rosefinches (Genus in need of substantial revision. May consist of two or more genera; alternatively may include Haematospiza and Uragus)
    • Genus Haematospiza - Scarlet Finch
    • Genus Uragus - streaked rosefinches
  • Goldfinch - Canary - Crossbill clade. Carduelis and Serinus are polyphyletic and are probably best regarded as a collection of independent sub-groups or genera.
    • Genus Serinus sensu lato - canaries, seedeaters, serins and African siskins
      • (Sub)Genus Serinus sensu stricto - European Serin and relatives, possibly related to Spinus.
      • (Sub)Genus Crithagra - afrotropical canaries, seedeaters, citrils etc. Probably only distantly related to Serinus.
    • Genus Linurgus - Oriole Finch. Possibly basal to Crithagra.
    • Genus Rhynchostruthus - the golden-winged grosbeaks. Tentatively placed here.
    • Genus "Serinus" thibetanus - Tibetan Serin. Probably related to Spinus and Serinus sensu stricto.
    • Genus Carduelis sensu lato
      • (Sub)Genus Carduelis sensu stricto - European Goldfinch, Citril Finch and Corsican Finch. Probably only distantly related to Spinus.
      • (Sub)Genus Spinus - siskins and american goldfinches
      • (Sub)Genus Linaria - linnets and twite. Related to Spinus.
      • (Sub)Genus Chloris - greenfinches and Desert Finch
      • (Sub)Genus Acanthis - redpolls. Related to Loxia.
      • (Sub)Genus Loxia - crossbills.
  • Genera as yet unplaced.
    • Genus Pyrrhoplectes - Gold-naped Finch
    • Genus Chaunoproctus - Bonin Grosbeak (extinct)
    • Genus Callacanthis - Spectacled Finch
    • Genus Neospiza - Sao Tomé Grosbeak

• Subfamily Drepanidinae - Hawaiian honeycreepers. Usually treated as a separate family but biochemical studies (Arnaiz-Villena et al, 2007) place them as a well-defined clade deep within the Carduelines.

• Subfamily Euphoniinae - Euphonious finches; endemic to the Neotropics; formerly treated in Thraupidae.
  • Genus Euphonia, the euphonias
  • Genus Chlorophonia, the chlorophonias

References

• Arnaiz-Villena, A.; Álvarez-Tejado, M.; Ruiz-del-Valle, V.; García-de-la-Torre, C.; Varela, P.; Recio, M. J.; Ferre. S. & Martínez-Laso, J. (1998): Phylogeny and rapid Northern and Southern Hemisphere speciation of goldfinches during the Miocene and Pliocene Epochs. Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences 54(9): 1031–1041. PDF fulltext. Erratum, Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences 55(1): 148. PDF fulltext

• Arnaiz-Villena, A.; Guillén, J.; Ruiz-del-Valle, V.; Lowy, E.; Zamora, J.; Varela, P.; Stefani, D. & Allende, L. M. (2001): Phylogeography of crossbills, bullfinches, grosbeaks, and rosefinches. Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences 58: 1159–1166. PDF fulltext

• Arnaiz-Villena, A., Moscoso, J., Ruiz-del-Valle, V., Gonzalez, J., Reguera, R., Ferri, A., Wink, M., Serrano-Vela, J. I. 2008. Mitochondrial DNA Phylogenetic Definition of a Group of ‘Arid-Zone’ Carduelini Finches. The Open Ornithology Journal, Volume 1: pp.1-7. (Free download available at http://www.bentham.org/open/tooenij/openaccess2.htm)

• Arnaiz-Villena, A., Moscoso, J., Ruiz-del-Valle, V., Gonzalez, J., Reguera, R., Wink, M., I. Serrano-Vela, J. 2007. Bayesian phylogeny of Fringillinae birds: status of the singular African oriole finch Linurgus olivaceus and evolution and heterogeneity of the genus Carpodacus. Acta Zoologica Sinica, 53 (5):826 - 834. PDF fulltext

• Clement, Peter; Harris, Alan & Davis, John (1993): Finches and Sparrows: an identification guide. Christopher Helm, London. ISBN 0-7136-8017-2

• Groth, J. G. 1994. A mitochondrial cytochrome b phylogeny of cardueline finches. Journal für Ornithologie, 135: 31.

• Groth, J. G. 1998. Molecular phylogeny of the cardueline finches and Hawaiian honeycreepers. Ostrich, 69: 401.

• Groth, J (2000) "Molecular evidence for the systematic position of Urocynchramus pylzowi." Auk 117(3): 787-792.

• Klicka, J., K.P. Johnson, and S.M. Lanyon. 2000. New World nine-primaried oscine relationships: Constructing a mitochondrial DNA framework. Auk 117:321-336.

• Marten, Jill A. & Johnson, Ned K. (1986): Genetic relationships of North American cardueline finches. Condor 88(4): 409-420. PDF fulltext

• Newton, Ian. (1973). "Finches". New Naturalist series. Taplinger Publishing (ISBN 0-8008-2720-1)

• Ryan, P.G., Wright, D., Oatley, G., Wakeling, J., Cohen, C., Nowell, T.L., Bowie, R.C.K., Ward, V. & Crowe, T.M. 2004. Systematics of Serinus canaries and the status of Cape and Yellow-crowned Canaries inferred from mtDNA and morphology. Ostrich 75:288-294.

• Treplin, S. 2006. Inference of phylogenetic relationships in passerine birds (Aves: Passeriformes) using new molecular markers. (Dissertation - available online) http://opus.kobv.de/ubp/volltexte/2006/1123/pdf/treplin_diss.pdf.

• Yuri, T., and D. P. Mindell. 2002. Molecular phylogenetic analysis of Fringillidae, "New World nine-primaried oscines" (Aves: Passeriformes). Mol. Phylogen. Evol. 23:229-243.

External links

• Finch videos on the Internet Bird Collection