Greenfinch / Carduelis chloris / حسون خضري (الخضيري)

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Status: Common

The Greenfinch is in the Fringillidae.family in the Passerine order. The Greenfinch is 14-15 cm' in size and 17.7-26.8 grams in weight. The male has a bright green color while the female has a slightly grayish-olive color. The sides of the base of the tail which are bright yellow with their dark tip form an upside down dark T pattern to the tail. Also the base of the primaries is bright yellow which forms an obvious yellow mark on wings in flight. The flight is like a wave in which the Greenfinch rapidly flaps its wings to gain a bit of height and then glides down with closed wings. Usually it also calls during the flight. The green colors provide a good camouflage in the background of the trees and shrub on which the Greenfinch spends its time. The Greenfinch's soft calls and its 'buzzy' song usually give away its location from a far. In the winter the Greenfinch groups up and looks for food along side other seed-eaters, such as Chaffinches, Linnets, goldfinches, sparrows and buntings. During March the groups separates and each male locates a territory on which it announces with a laud song from a tall tree or by flying around it in a slow circular motion. The female builds a basket-shaped nest on a tall tree among thick and shaded branches. It usually lays 4-6 eggs and sits on them for 13-14 days. During that time the male occasionally calls the female out from the nest to feed her. The chicks spend 12-15 days in the nest and during that time they are fed mainly insects and sometimes half digested seeds. The parents are not evacuating the droppings of the chicks which over time decorate the surroundings of the nest. The breeding season is from March until September. During that time the Greenfinches can finish 2-3 cycles of breeding. The Greenfinch has an extremely vast distribution from Spain, Portugal, morocco and Algeria in the west throughout most of Europe, and all the way to south Turkmenistan in the east. 9 different subspecies were classified in the borders of this distribution. In Palestine the C. c. chlorotica subspecies is resident and breeds all the way to the south of Jericho. Some individuals from northern and eastern populations (subspecies C. c. chloris and C. c. Aurantiiventris) are wintering or passing through Palestine on their way to the wintering grounds in the Middle East and North Africa. 

The Greenfinch is classified as Least Concern though it is threatened by poachers who trap the Greenfinches in order to sell them as captive song birds.

Migratory behaviour: Resident breeder

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