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Brambling (Fringilla montifringilla) Alternate name(s): "Mountain Finch", "Cock o' the North" German name(s): "Bergfink", "Nordfink", "Brämling" Size: 14-16 cm; wing span: 25-26 cm Body mass: 17-30 g Wing loading [g/cm2]: 0.20-0.28

Europe: Family Group 24 Family Group 24 Table White Wagtail Western Yellow Wagtail Grey Wagtail Tawny Pipit Berthelot's Pipit Red-throated Pipit Tree Pipit Meadow Pipit Water Pipit Eurasian Rock Pipit Greater Short-toed Lark Calandra Lark Woodlark Eurasian Skylark Bearded Reedling House Sparrow Tree Sparrow Spanish Sparrow Rock Sparrow Trumpeter Finch European Serin Atlantic Canary Red-fronted Serin Eurasian Siskin Common Redpoll Arctic Redpoll Twite Common Linnet Brambling Common Chaffinch European Goldfinch Eurasian Bullfinch Hawfinch Common Crossbill Common Rosefinch Yellowhammer Cirl Bunting Common Reed Bunting Little Bunting Ortolan Bunting Black-headed Bunting Corn Bunting Rock Bunting House Bunting Thumbnails page Family group table Index of bird names European birds home page

Similar species

Description     Classification     Distribution     Sightings     Photos     Breeding     Nest     Eggs     Behaviour     Food     Call/s

Physical description Click here for a physical description Bramblings are medium-sized finches. Their plumage is dimorphic, i.e. males and females are different. In addition, Male Bramblings have different breeding and eclipse plumages. Breeding males have a glossy-black head, nape of the neck and back. Throat, chin, chest and shoulders are orange, while belly, vent and undertail coverts are white, with grey specks on the flanks. The upperwings are cryptic, with a charcoal base and white/orange bars and pale-orange edge lining on the flight feathers. In eclipse head, nape of the neck and back lose their glossy black lustre and turn scalloped grey/dark-grey. Females have duller colours; in particular, their upperparts, head and neck are more brownish-grey to rusty-buff than those of males. The irises of both sexes are dark. The bill is triangular. During the breeding season males have a black bill, while in eclipse they - and females - have a yellow bill with a dark-grey tip. The legs and feet of breeding males are grey, while in eclipse they are pinkish-grey. Females also have pinkish-grey legs and feet.

Taxonomy, classification See Brambling at Wikipedia .

Range, habitat, finding this species Click here for information on habitat and range The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found, based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org . The global distribution of the Brambling is available HERE . Bramblings are a strongly migratory Eurasian species. They breed in the northern parts of Europe and Asia, roughly above 55 degrees latitude, except the northern coastal fringe, with some reports from the Aleutian islands and the coastal fringe of Alaska. They overwinter in all of western, central and southern Europe, coastal North-west Africa, most of Asia Minor, around the Caucasus mountain range and in moderate to subtropical Asia, as far to the East as Korea and Japan. During migration they can be found anywhere in between. In Europe Bramblings have their breeding grounds northward of a line connecting Oslo with Tallinn, with the exception of southernmost Finland and the far northern coastal fringe. They spend the winters anywhere to the South-west of a line connecting northern Scotland with northern Denmark and the Caucasus mountains. Anywhere in between they can be found during migration. During the breeding season Bramblings have a preference for relatively open upland birch woodland or coniferous forest with some deciduous trees mixed in. In winter they are more flexible and go where there is sufficient food, i.e. seeds.

Sightings Click here for sighting information M. Eaton reports spotting Bramblings at Skjervoy, near Tromso, Norway, in June 2018. J. Pires reports finding Bramblings on several separate occasions at Coruche, Santarem, Portugal - first in January 2019, then in the timeframe February-March 2019 and again in November 2021 and in February 2022. S. Cuturilov reports netting and ringing Bramblings at Vlasina Lake, Serbia, in October 2019. Others were found by A. Sarok in Vojvodina, Serbia, in the timeframe 2010-2024.

Photos

ADULT

PAIR

NON-BREEDING

Lateral view of a pair of Bramblings in non-breeding plumage, male in front (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Coruche, Santarem, Portugal, November 2021]

MALE

BREEDING

Near-frontal view of a male Brambling in breeding plumage; note the black head and bill - the greyish parts may indicate that it is starting to moult into its non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Skjervoy, near Tromso, Norway, June 2018]

Lateral view of a male Brambling in breeding plumage looking towards the observer (photo courtesy of A. Sarok)
[Vojvodina, Serbia, date unknown]

Near-dorsal view of a male Brambling moulting into breeding plumage (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Coruche, Santarem, Portugal, February 2020]

NON-BREEDING

Near-frontal view of a Brambling in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Coruche, Santarem, Portugal, March 2020]

Near-frontal view of a Brambling in non-breeding plumage with its crest erected (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Coruche, Santarem, Portugal, March 2020]

Near-lateral view of a Brambling in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Coruche, Santarem, Portugal, March 2020]

Lateral view of a male Brambling in non-breeding plumage looking towards the observer (photo courtesy of A. Sarok)
[Vojvodina, Serbia, date unknown]

Lateral view of a Brambling in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Coruche, Santarem, Portugal, March 2020]

Lateral view of a Brambling in non-breeding plumage with its crest erected (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Coruche, Santarem, Portugal, March 2020]

Lateral view of a male Brambling in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of S. Cuturilov)
[Vlasina Lake, Serbia, October 2019]

Near-dorsal view of a male Brambling in non-breeding plumage; note the scalloping on the back and the grey around the nape of the neck (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Skjervoy, near Tromso, Norway, June 2018]

FEMALE

NON-BREEDING

Frontal view of a female Brambling in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Coruche, Santarem, Portugal, March 2020]

Lateral view of a female Brambling in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Coruche, Santarem, Portugal, March 2020]

Lateral view of a female Brambling in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of S. Cuturilov)
[Vlasina Lake, Serbia, October 2019]

IMMATURE/JUVENILE

Near-lateral view of a juveile(?) Brambling; note the spots on the lower flanks, which identify the species, but the dark bill and greyish head, which are inconsistent with a female (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Coruche, Santarem, Portugal, March 2020]

Behaviour

Behaviour

Social behaviour: Communal

Mobility: Migratory

Elementary unit: Mob/flock

Bramblings are (relatively) short-distance migrants. They breed in Fenno-Scandia and north-western Russia, but migrate only to the Mediterranean to overwinter there. In some years Bramblings form enormous flocks, with numbers ranging in the millions reported e.g. in 2009.

Food, Diet

Distant view of Bramblings in a mixed flock of sparrows and finches feeding in a fallow irrigated peanut field; male in non-breeding plumage on the left, female on the right [with the off-white front] (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Coruche, Santarem, Portugal, January 2019]

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