Types of Finches – BirdWatching

Finches are members of the family Fringillidae. They are defined as small passerines with cone-shaped bills. In fact, it is the bill shape that usually identifies them to us in the field. The bill has adapted for digging out seeds and nuts. They do not migrate and are usually colorful and seen in groups.

But did you know that the Evening Grosbeak is a finch, but the Yellow Grosbeak is not? Or that Hawaii has over 35 species that are members of the Fringillidae family?

Finches in the USA

We will be gathering data from the American Bird Association (ABA) and eBird to sift through these species. According to the ABA, there are 67 Fringillidae birds seen throughout the United States. We can break those down as follows:

• Native to continental America – 17
• Vagrants, exotics, and escapees – 11
• Native to Hawaii – 39

In this post, we will be listing all the finches found in continental America and trying to figure out why some finch-like birds are classed as finches and some are not. The Hawaiian finches deserve a post of their own!

Grosbeak Finches

As you can imagine, early ornithologists named this bird because of the size of the bill. Hence Grosbeak. However, later studies showed it had similarities to finches and some species were moved into that family. Other Grosbeak species are still in the cardinal family. This kind of confusion is common in ornithology and remains unresolved.

Evening Grosbeak

Pine Grosbeak

Hoary/Arctic Redpoll

Scientific Name – Acanthis hornemanni Status – vulnerable Range

Habitat & Habits – forage gleaner in scrub

Crossbill Finches

The Loxia genus comprises of several species across the globe, and they have a distinctive bill which is cross over. They use this to dig out seeds from pine cones.

Red/Common Crossbill

Cassia Crossbill

Scientific Name – Loxia sinesciuris Status – restricted Range Range

Habitat & Habits – foliage gleaner in forests

White-winged/Two-barred Crossbill

Scientific Name – Loxia leucoptera Status – least concern Range

Habitat & Habits – foliage gleaner in forests

Siskin Finches

The word siskin comes from an old German dialect but it is not really known how it relates to this genus of finch.

Pine Siskin

Scientific Name – Spinus pinus Status – least concern Range

Habitat & Habits – foliage gleaner in open woodlands

Goldfinches

Goldfinches in American and Europe are very different looking birds. They are also in different genera and as so, are unrelated.

Lesser Goldfinch

Scientific Name – Spinus psaltria Status – least concern Range

Habitat & Habits – foliage gleaner in open woodlands

Lawrence’s Goldfinch

Scientific Name – Spinus lawrencei Status – least concern Range

Habitat & Habits – foliage gleaner in open woodlands

American Goldfinch

Scientific Name – Spinus tristis Status – least concern Range

Habitat & Habits – foliage gleaner in open woodlands

Final Thoughts

And there we have it. 17 continental U.S. goldfinch across 7 genera with lots of similar-looking or sounding species in other families. But that is birding! Nevertheless, these birds all live up to their reputations of being colorful. They are simply gorgeous. For me, I have never seen rosy-finch, and they are now on my bucket list!