For such a large distinctive finch, the Hawfinch is amazingly hard to see, often perched high in the trees hidden among the leaves. It is our largest finch, and can be found hiding in deciduous woods. They particularly like hornbeam, elm and cherry trees.
The Hawfinch is very colourful, with a big powerful triangular bill that has a black surround and is capable of cracking cherry stones. They are orangey-brown with a black eye surround, dark wings, brown head, grey nape, black bib, buff rump and pink feet. Yes, colourful! They have a striking white wing bar and white tip to their tail when flying. Females are a duller version of the male. Their high-pitched call is beyond the range of most people's hearing, though in flight they make a distinctive, metallic, explosive "tsicc!"
Hawfinches, with their massive bill, feed mainly on seeds taken from the ground or directly from the trees. They can easily crack open large seed shells. The inside of their bill is adapted for holding shells firmly and they can exert as much as 50kg of force when breaking into one! In summer, they also catch insects to feed their young.
Hawfinch pairs form in the winter flocks after an elaborate bowing courtship display, the pairs often staying together from one year to the next. They usually nest together in small colonies. Dad chooses a nest site and lays a few twigs badly in the fork of a tree. Mum then takes over and builds a proper cup-shaped nest from twigs and grasses. In May or June, she lays and incubates 4-5 eggs, which hatch after 14 days. Both mum and dad feed the young with chewed up seeds and insects. Hawfinches are unusual in that they keep their nests really clean, removing waste matter and giving it a good dusting. The youngsters can fly 14 days later and become fully independent after a further 30 days. They will breed themselves the following year. With the late start, there is usually only one brood.
There are about 1000 resident pairs of Hawfinches, with birds from northern Europe swelling numbers to 15,000 in winter. They are Red Listed in Britain as their numbers are so small. The oldest ringed Hawfinch lived to 12 years old.
Their Latin name is 'coccothraustes coccothraustes' where 'coccothraustes' is derived from the Greek 'kokkos' for a seed or kernel and 'thrauo' meaning to break or shatter. The English name 'Hawfinch' was first used by the ornithologist Francis Willughby in 1676. Haws are the red berries of the common hawthorn. A pretty poor observation as they eat cherries, not hawthorn seeds. Cherryfinch or Nutcracker would have been a better name.