Bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula)
A captivating bird, the Bullfinch is one of the more memorable species of Fringillidae resident in the UK. Its appearance, once observed, is clear with its pinkish-orange underside, which is more characteristic among males than females, whose plumage is more of a uniform brown colour with only the slightest hint of pink; although, it’s important to note that both males and females feature very similar wing tails and general markings.
One of the most prominent features of the Bullfinch is its bill. This stubby yet powerful looking apparatus has adapted specially for eating the buds of seeds, and it’s one of the reasons for the “bull” in Bullfinch, which is apparently used because of the bird’s front-heavy, bull-like appearance: the short, curved beak helps give the bird is famous shape. The Latinate taxonomy Pyrrhula pyrrhula is derived from the Greek word Purrhoulas, which means “worm eating bird”.
Similar to the Great spotted woodpecker, the Bullfinch has an incredibly large range, stretching from Ireland, through northern Europe, all the way to Japan. There is a simple key difference between our UK variants and those from further north: size and weight. Observe a Scandinavian Bullfinch and you’ll notice it is much larger than one from the UK.
Being a shy type of bird, the Bullfinch is certainly not one to venture out into the garden and feed on a feeder; don’t expect to see them frequently visiting your garden if it is a bustling place. Bullfinches prefer quietude and protection among hedges and dense broad-leaved trees. Along with its shy nature, the Bullfinch call is relatively soft and muted, which is expressed by a melancholy, sombre “pew, pew” sound; quite indistinct, it is hard to hear, especially since it is sometimes difficult to get close to a Bullfinch.
During the breeding season, you’ll find a typical Bullfinch clutch consists of between three and four eggs; and, over the course of the breeding season, may yield two or three broods.
I have a female bullfinch sits on my bird feeder for about 20 minutes every afternoon. She feeds now and again but is happy just sitting there
A male bullfinch is a regular visitor to our garden feeding from the black sunflower feeder hanging from the ash tree 20 feet from our house, where it stays for several minutes at a time. The female visits less often, sometimes feeding from the bird table
When this says “you’ll find a typical Bullfinch clutch consists of between three and four egg” I hope you don’t literally mean ‘find’ – unless you are taking part in the British Trust for Ornithology’s Nest Record Scheme and are following the instructions and/or training. Otherwise, please don’t try and find any nests in case you disturb the birds and disrupt their breeding. See https://www.bto.org/volunteer-surveys/nrs
And whatever teh Greek origins of the name mean, it is not primarily a worm-eater. They love buds and seeds. You’re a lucky person if a pair of bullfinches visit your feeders.
We have daily visits in our garden from two male, sometimes three bullfinch. They are usually accompanied by their respective females. They happily feed on sunflower hearts from a range of different design feeders.
I think that they get the name “Bull” because they always bully the other birds on the feeders, ha,ha
I then am one of these lucky people as a pair of bullfinches visit my sunflower filled feeders most days. I. might add the feeders are hung in my prize apple tree and knowing they love apple buds its worth the risk to observe these fantastic looking finches only a mile from a large city centre
We have two male and two female bullfinches that visit our garden daily, and eat from our feeders. They will even feed from the ground feeder. The females in particular do not like other birds on the feeder with them.
For the last three years we have been so lucky to have three pairs of Bullfinches visiting our garden. When all three pairs are sat in the tree it is truly spectacular. They graze on the tree buds and enjoy the peacful winter sunshine. They also visit the bird feeders but not so much now since the start of the year the Gold finches who now visit us all day, on average we can have as many as 20 at once on the feeders. We do have ten feeders with a variety of food so there is usually plenty to go around and these are cleaned regularly and filled up every day. I think the Bull finches, due to them being so shy are now feeling bullied by the Gold finches and so stay in the tree poor things!
These are a real favourite of mine and a pair visit intermittently always to great excitement. I have planted a cherry to try to encourage them but have recently found that they seem to love the female catkins of silver birch. Has anyone else seen this behavior?
Yes the Bullfinches who visit our garden love the catkins too. They will graze for a good 15 to 20 minutes at any time doing so. However as soon as I have a camera in my hand they know and fly away!
These are a real favourite of mine and a pair visit intermittently always to great excitement. I have planted a cherry to try to encourage them but have recently found that they seem to love the female catkins of silver birch. Has anyone else seen this behavior?
I too am fortunate in having a pair of bullfinches who appear to visit daily, favouring the sunflower hearts filled feeders . close to the kitchen window. From your other mail I realise that they choose this spot as goldfinches mainly use other four hanging feeders.
The male bullfinch feeds from one feeder, whilst female chooses one adjacent to it. I feel so privileged to have such beautiful visitors. Well worth the cost of seed and the loss of some pear tree buds & flowers from my old pear tree.
I was overjoyed to watch a bullfinch for the first time yesterday. Sitting on my neighbour’s back fence, then joined by Mrs Bullfinch, I think they felt safe together. He flew over to our sunflower hearts and was shortly joined by the missus! They stayed for a few minutes allowing me to enjoy the sight before flying off!
Can anyone help with my squirrel “problems “, seriously now, they are becoming pests! I only use “squirrel proof” feeders, ha! They just prize the lid up and get the food out from the top. I’ve got four feeders out and they can empty the lot in a day! HELP!
We made a large circular ‘barrel’ of green plastic coated garden wire netting (about 1 1/2 ins aperture) with a covering of same on top and a hinged piece underneath to access the feeder hanging inside on an S hook. You need to put two wire stays attached to the bottom of the feeder and reaching out to the side of the barrel otherwise it will simply swing towards the squirrel who tries to hang on the outside of the barrel. Must be coated wire not plastic as squirrel will bite through! This also deters ring- necked parakeets as they can only get their head through the aperture but not near to the feeding holes and quickly give up! A bonus to this system is that you get birds waiting in the apertures for a turn on the feeding perches! A brave (probably young) squirrel did manage to sqeeze through the small aperture but when cornered trying to get out never returned! Hope this helps!
Stella August 31st 2018
We have several pairs of bullfinches which are year round visitors to our garden in Edinburgh. They also bring their nestlings at the appropriate time. Until we put out sunflower hearts, we never saw them despite having crab apple and cherry trees. They are as tame as any other species of finch – gold, green or chaffinch which are also regulars and they sit on the feedersfor five to ten minutes at a time, literally filling their faces! Perhaps urban life is changing their timid behaviour.
Lovely photo great setting for the birds. We too had the usual sparrows but now with sunflower hearts we get so many other birds visiting now. It makes my day to see them and cheer me up. Especially the blackbirds, for the few years I put out a few sultanas (Lidls best of course) especially in the winter months they love them. They wait for me getting up and remind me to put some out for them. They dance about on the fence until I feed them. They almost now are feeding out of my hand! At best they will stand approx two feet away till I return indoors then the feast begins. Love to watch them! The robins like join in too stealing the odd sultana if the blackbirds feel generous.
I’ve just seen an unusual sight feeding from my various feeders, can anyone tell me how rare this sighting is? I’m not sure if it’s a breed of sparrow or a warbler. Certainly never seen it in our garden before.
It’s a white crowned sparrow, From north America.
Is it a female firecrest?
It is still a little early to have young sparrows around. I have seen young sparrows around in late March but not this early. I will have a look through the few books I have on British birds and see if I can work out which bird it cab be. I am still a novice at twitching so it might take some time!
I live in Shrewsbury, Shropshire and regularly have Bullfinch on my garden feeders. They seem to love Sunflower seeds the best although I do put mixed seed feed too. I have fed wild birds in my garden for several years now and it appears to have become a feeding station.They clear two 18″ feeders per day at present through a large collection of Goldfinch, Bullfinch, Greenfinch, Nuthatch and Tit family
Just a few days ago, they came to visit my feeder. With my peripheral vision, I knew I’ve never seen them before. So, my SONY with 400mm telescope lens sprang to action. No idea when they’ll visit next, but I hope they will return, as well as those gold, chaffinch, long-tail…