Finches | Fringillidae

Vinkachtigen | Fringílidos

The conical bill is the mark of the family: seed is not swallowed but husked, held in a groove in the palate while the lower mandible slides the coat off. The heavier the bill, the harder the kernel it can deal with, so its shape tells from species to species what the bird depends on. Outside the breeding season they range in flocks over seed-rich fields, woods and shores, with a bounding flight and persistent contact calls that identify them at a distance. Unlike most songbirds, many species feed their young not on insects but on regurgitated seed, carried in a pouch of the gullet.