The Brambling is a Eurasian finch and a rare winter visitor to the United States, where a few turn up at feeders. Its orange breast and shoulders and white rump, visible in flight, help identify it.
Appearance
Appearance
It is about 6.3 in (16 cm) long and weighs roughly 0.8–1.0 oz (23–29 g). Orange shoulders and breast, a white belly and rump, and two pale wing bars are useful field marks.
Seasonal forms
A breeding male has a black head and back. In winter, pale feather edges give the head and back a browner, mottled look.
Where it lives
Typical habitats
woodland edges
fields
yards with feeders
Range
It breeds across northern Eurasia. Small numbers reach Alaska during migration, and rare winter visitors have been recorded in states as far south as Colorado.
Seasonal presence
It is an uncommon migrant in Alaska and a rare winter visitor elsewhere in the United States.
Preferred conditions
Outside the breeding season it uses open woods, farmland, and places where seeds are plentiful.
Behavior
Diet
It eats mostly seeds outside the breeding season and adds insects during summer; nestlings are fed insects.
Activity
In Eurasia, Bramblings often feed in flocks on the ground or in trees; winter flocks there can become exceptionally large.
Life cycle
Breeding season
It breeds during spring and summer in the birch and conifer forests of northern Eurasia, not regularly in the United States.
Nest
The female places a cup-shaped nest in a tree fork and builds it from plant material, moss, and bark.
Clutch size
5–7 eggs
Incubation
The female incubates the eggs.
Connected species
Ties with other wildlife
Winter flocks use abundant tree and weed seeds, while breeding birds shift toward insects.