European goldfinch
| European goldfinch | |
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| In Tarn, France
Male bird recorded in Gloucestershire, England
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Fringillidae |
| Genus: | Carduelis |
| Species: | C. carduelis |
| Binomial name | |
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Carduelis carduelis (Linnaeus, 1758) |
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Carduelis carduelis carduelis 1 summer 2 all year Carduelis carduelis caniceps 3 summer 4 all year |
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The European goldfinch or goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis), is a small passerine bird in the finch family that is native to Europe, North Africa and western Asia. It has been introduced to other areas including Australia, New Zealand and Uruguay.
The goldfinch has a red face and a black-and-white head. The back and flanks are buff or chestnut brown. The black wings have a broad yellow bar. The tail is black and the rump is white. The female is very similar to the male but has a slightly smaller red area on the face.
The goldfinch is often depicted in Italian renaissance paintings of the Madonna and Child.
The goldfinch was described and illustrated by Swiss naturalist Conrad Gesner in his Historiae animalium of 1555. In 1758 Linnaeus included the species in the 10th edition of his Systema Naturae under its current binomial name, Carduelis carduelis.Carduelis is the classical Latin word for a goldfinch. Modern molecular genetic studies have shown that the European goldfinch is most closely related to the citril finch, (Carduelis citrinella) and the Corsican finch, (Carduelis corsicana).
The English word 'goldfinch' was used in the second half of the 14th century by Geoffrey Chaucer in his unfinished The Cook's Tale: "Gaillard he was as goldfynch in the shawe (Gaily dressed he was as is a goldfinch in the woods)".
The subspecies are divided into two major groups. These intergrade at their boundary so the groups are not recognised as distinct species despite their readily distinguishable plumage. Subspecies in the carduelis group occupy the western part of the range and have black crowns; subspecies in the caniceps group occupy the eastern part of the range and have grey heads.
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Wikipedia