Five Facts about hawfinches

Molly Martin tells us five facts about one of our less familiar finches, the hawfinch, or gobach.

Hawfinches are big! They are our largest finch, only slightly smaller than a blackbird! Apart from the size you can recognise them by their rich chestnut head, rose-pink breast and black and white wing markings.

They also have huge, powerful beaks, which they use to crunch up stones of cherries and sloes, and the seeds of beech and hornbeam trees. Hawfinches normally feed at the very tops of trees, making them very elusive, but during the winter you might have a better chance of seeing them feeding on the ground or hiding amongst bare branches.

Hawfinch numbers have seriously declined recently due to loss of breeding areas, making them a rare spot in Scotland for most of the year. Numbers are boosted in winter with birds passing through Shetland, Orkney and the North East coast, and a few wintering further south.  

Hawfinches start to breed around April, and can raise two broods of young each year. During the breeding season, the male hawfinch will start building a nest, normally in the fork of a large tree in mature woodland. The male layers twigs, moss, grass and lichen to build the nest amongst ivy, and then, after around two weeks, the female takes over.

Hawfinch courtship is similar to other finches’, and involves feeding rituals, where the male presents the female with food. In the early stages of hawfinch courtship, this is more performative, with the pair touching their beaks together without the passing of any food, this can look like the birds are kissing!