The Linnet (Linaria cannabina) is a small, common finch species native to Europe, parts of Asia, and North Africa. This petite songbird is a familiar sight in open country, often recognized for its melodic, twittering song. It remains a widespread finch, known for its highly social nature outside of the breeding season.
Identification and Appearance
The linnet is a slender finch, typically measuring about five inches (13 centimeters) in length and weighing between 14 to 28 grams. It generally appears as a streaky brown bird, but both sexes share a silvery-grey head and a plain chestnut-brown back.
The most striking feature is the strong sexual dimorphism, particularly visible during the breeding season. The male develops a distinctive crimson patch on its forehead and a rosy-red wash across its breast. Outside of the breeding months, this bright plumage fades to a duller, pinkish-brown color.
Female and juvenile birds lack the male’s red coloration entirely, appearing as a more subdued, streaky brown with a buff-streaked breast and a grey face. In flight, both sexes display noticeable white flashes on the edges of their wings and on their forked tails, aiding identification. Their thick, grey bill is adapted for cracking small seeds.
Habitat and Geographic Range
The common linnet is widely distributed across the western Palearctic, ranging throughout Europe, western Asia, and North Africa. This species thrives in open landscapes that feature scattered scrub and low, dense bushes for nesting. They frequently inhabit heathland, coastal dunes, rough grassland, and the edges of agricultural land.
Linnets actively avoid dense woodland, preferring the mosaic of open fields and thorny thickets. Their distribution is closely tied to the availability of seed-bearing weeds, making disturbed ground and field margins important habitats.
Some populations are entirely sedentary, remaining in the same area year-round. Populations in the northern and eastern parts of their range are migratory, heading southwest to overwinter in southern Europe, the Mediterranean basin, or North Africa.
Diet and Behavior
The linnet’s diet is almost exclusively composed of small seeds, which gave rise to its species name, cannabina, a reference to the hemp plant. They consume the seeds of various arable weeds and grasses, including flax, chickweed, dandelion, and plants in the mustard family. While adults occasionally consume small invertebrates, they primarily feed their nestlings a diet of seeds.
Linnets are highly gregarious birds outside of the breeding season. They form large, cohesive flocks that can sometimes number in the hundreds, often mixing with other finch species like the Twite. These flocks forage primarily on the ground in open stubble fields or low vegetation.
The male linnet’s song is a characteristic, rapid, and pleasant cascade of trills and twitters, delivered from a prominent perch during spring and summer. Their flight is recognizable by its bouncing, undulating motion, often accompanied by noisy, twittering calls.