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Brambling

Fringilla montifringillaOrder: PASSERIFORMESFamily: Finches (Fringillidae)

Brambling Breeding Male Portrait
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General

Brambling: Medium-sized finch with jet-black hood extending to upper back and orange shoulder patches, throat, and breast. Underparts are buff with black-spotted flanks. Wings are black with white and orange bars. Female and winter adult appear orange overall with complex patterns of black, orange and white.

Range and Habitat

Brambling: A Eurasian species, common but irregular as a migrant in the Bering Sea region, including the Aleutians; casual in fall and winter in southern Alaska; accidental south to Canada and northwestern U.S. states. Preferred habitats include northern forests with birch trees during breeding season; prefers agricultural fields, woodlands (especially beech), parks, and gardens during winter.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"dzhweeeee", "check-check-check", "tweerk"

Interesting Facts

 Bramblings are well-known for the unpredictability of their migrations; birds wintering in Great Britain have been recovered in Italy the next.

 This irregularity may be associated with the dependence of brambling flocks on the seeds of a few trees, especially beech, that tend to be produced plentifully in alternate years in different localities.

 Unlike most finches, their young are fed extensively on insects.

 A group of finches has many collective nouns, including a "charm", "company", and "trembling" of finches.



Author

Gary Owen Dick

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Range Map for Brambling
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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.
Family Buntings, Finches, Sparrows (Emberizidae)_blue
Species Fringilla montifringilla
Length5.5 - 6.25 Inches
Wingspan9.25 Inches

Brambling

Brambling: Medium-sized finch with jet-black hood extending to upper back with orange shoulder patches, throat, and breast. Underparts are buff with black-spotted flanks. Wings are black with white and orange bars. Bounding flight, rapid wing beats alternating with wings at sides.

● Song: "dzhweeeee", "check-check-check", "tweerk"

● Foraging & Feeding: Brambling: Eats seeds and insects in summer; seeds in winter; forages in trees, bushes, and on the ground.

● Breeding & nesting: Brambling: Five to seven pale blue eggs with pink and red markings are laid in a nest made of grass, hair, birch bark, and moss, held together with spider webs, and lined with hair, wool, down, and feathers. Incubation ranges from 11 to 12 days and is carried out by the female.

● Similar species: Brambling: Common Chaffinch lacks white rump, orange tints, and flecked flanks.

Flight Pattern

Somewhat bounding flight with rapid wing beats alternating with brief periods of wings pulled to sides.
Brambling Breeding Male Body Illustration
● Range & Habitat: Brambling: A Eurasian species, common but irregular as a migrant in the Bering Sea region, including the Aleutians; casual in fall and winter in southern Alaska; accidental south to Canada and northwestern U.S. states. Preferred habitats include northern forests with birch trees during breeding season; prefers agricultural fields, woodlands (especially beech), parks, and gardens during winter.
BreedingMonogamous, Pairs
PopulationRare to casual
MigrationMigratory
Weight0.8 Ounces