Hawfinch

Description:

I got another nice surprise during the last week of January, as this Hawfinch kept hanging around our feeders, and allowed me to shot 60-70 good pics. The Hawfinch is the biggest finch on the continent, well over 15cm in length - size of Blackbird, rather than the sparrow like most of other finches. It is predominantly rusty-brown and buff, with black, white and grey details. The finch appearance, the size and massive head combined with a massive pale (winter colour) conical bill makes it easy to recognize.

Habitat:

Seen on and around our feeders, in the backyard of our residence building, at outskirts of a small urban center in Geneva lake valley. The backyard counts a number of deciduous trees and shrubs, most of them spontaneous and local, some planted. The backyard neighbours a meadow (used for producing hay) and a lowland deciduous (mainly oak and beech) forest, and some other agricultural fields.

Notes:

The Hawfinch, even though common around us, is a rarely seen species; and some guide-books says it only approaches settlements during the strong winters. This winter I got lucky, and observed this one, and few other surprise and less common species on my feeders. I suppose that is because I increased a number of feeders in our backyard to 20 spots. I also changed the feed as well - we shifted to sunflower seeds only (no commercial mixtures) and home-made grease balls.