Birdpass
English
Twite

Twite

Linaria flavirostris

Identify the Twite by sound or photo and log your sightings with Birdpass.

  • Download on the App Store
  • Get it on Google Play

The Twite is a small, streaky brown finch of northern Europe and the mountains of Asia, with a patchy range. It resembles the Linnet but lacks the red head and breast; males have a pink rump, and the bill is yellow in winter and grey in summer. Partially migratory, it gathers in large flocks on coasts and salt marshes outside the breeding season, feeding mainly on small seeds. Its name imitates its nasal “twaa-it” call.

Did you know?

  • Its name imitates its nasal “twaa-it” call.
  • Its scientific name flavirostris means “yellow-billed”, after its winter bill colour.

Voice

Song

About the species

Identification

A smallish, mostly brown, darkly streaked finch with a long, notched tail. The underparts are pale with black streaks and a buff wash on the breast; the male has a pinkish rump. In winter the bill is clearly yellow. It lacks the Linnet's red forehead and breast and the redpolls' red cap and black chin. The call is a nasal, redpoll-like “tweeit”, and the song consists of fast trills and twitters.

Family

Fringillidae

Size

Small (sparrow)

Colours

brown, yellow, white, red

About the habitat

Open, treeless country – alpine grassland, heather moors, low shrubland and stony slopes; in cool oceanic north-west Europe also coastal grasslands at sea level. In winter salt marshes, coastal dunes, weedy fields and rough ground.

Diet

Mainly small seeds of grasses and herbs; in the breeding season also insects to feed the nestlings.

Behaviour

Outside the breeding season it forms lively, twittering flocks, sometimes with other finches, feeding on the ground and flying with a bouncing finch flight. The female builds a nest on the ground or low in heather or a bush and incubates 3–6 eggs for 12–13 days; both parents feed the young, which fledge after 11–12 days. Many birds move from uplands to coasts in winter.

Sources

Photo: peterichman, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Twite (Linaria flavirostris), Zinc Road, Teesside (53540824279).jpg

Sound: Tim Vochten, XC798314, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://xeno-canto.org/798314

Text: Wikipedia (English) + FinBIF species descriptions + GBIF regional observations + Wikipedia (English), CC BY-SA 4.0; FinBIF: CC BY 4.0; GBIF occurrence data; Wikipedia: CC BY-SA 4.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twite

See also