The Varieties of Finches

Finches belong to the Passeriformes order. Ornithologist give the Passeriformes order name to perching songbirds with strong feet for holding onto branches. Ornithologists have long disputed the distribution of the finches in the families of the Passeriformes order, but after decades of studies of evolution, finches today fall into four families -- Fringillidae, Carduelinae, Estrildidae and Emberizidae. Some people use the term "finch" for many of the birds in these families including waxbills, buntings, sparrows, canaries, munias, manikins and grosbeaks.

  1. Fringillidae Family

    • The original organization of the cardueline finches by ornithologists placed them in the Fringillidae family. Birds in the Fringillidae family feed their young insects; however, many birding books eliminate the Carduelinae family and list species of the Carduelinae family under Fringillidae even though the birds in the Carduelinae family feed their young seeds. Three species exist with the genus Fringillidae, the Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs), the Blue Chaffinch (Fringilla teydea) and the Brambling (Fringilla montifringilla.)

    Carduelinae Family

    • The bullfinch is one of the species in the Carduelinae family.

      The Carduilinae family contains birds with strong thick bills and crossbills that feed their young seeds. This family spawns much contention and many finches in this family are often listed in the Fringillidae family such as the Oriental and Holarctic grosbeaks, House finch, Mountain finch, Cassins finch, bullfinch, rosefinch, linnets, crossbills and redpolls. Recently, ornithologists determined that the species in this family have common ancestors. Therefore, they have placed many of finches, linnets, redpolls, grosbeaks, canaries and crossbills in this family instead of the original organization that placed them in the Fringillidae family.

    Estrildidea Family

    • The Estrildidea family contains species of birds that are very small yet brightly colored with thick bills for cracking seeds. Originating from the Old World tropics and Australia, finches in this family include the grass finches, parrot finches, waxbills, firetails, munias and manikins. This family also contains the Zebra finch, Cut-throat finch, Painted finch and Red-billed firefinch. Many domestic caged birds originated from finches in this family.

    Emberizidae Family

    • Ornithologists originally classified the Emberizidae family as a sub-family of Fringillidae; however, they have recently accepted this as a family of its own. Though this family contains sparrows, juncos and buntings, the large and small Ground finch, Saffon finch and Woodpecker finch are included.