Hawfinch Call MP3s
The Hawfinch's sharp, explosive tick call is distinctive even when the bird itself stays hidden high in the canopy, making audio recognition especially useful for this species.
Also known as
Recordings (4)
About this species
A passerine songbird measuring roughly 18 cm, the Hawfinch (Coccothraustes coccothraustes) is unmistakable — shy and bull-necked, armed with a massive steel-blue bill able to crack cherry stones. It needs mature broadleaved woodland with hornbeam, cherry and beech.
It gives an explosive, sharp 'tzik' ticking note, often the first clue to its shy presence. Its colossal bill can crack cherry and olive stones and hornbeam seeds with ease. Shy and easily overlooked, it feeds high in the canopy and bolts at the first alarm. From breeding grounds across Europe to Mediterranean and African wintering areas, its seasonal journeys mark the turning year.
Legal use
The Hawfinch is a shy, heavy-billed finch found across Europe and temperate Asia, and it is protected as a wild bird under the EU Birds Directive, the UK Wildlife and Countryside Act, and the Bern Convention through nearly all of that range rather than being a mainstream game species. Italian regions including Lombardy, Tuscany and Veneto did permit limited autumn shooting of Hawfinch under national derogations from 1992, but that practice ended following a 2010 EU Court of Justice ruling against Italy, and there have been no shooting derogations for the species since 2013. The current live exception is Malta, which has repeatedly named Hawfinch among seven finch species in its autumn live-capture 'research' derogation — a practice the EU Court of Justice has ruled unlawful twice (2018, 2024) and which remains under active EU infringement proceedings. Because legal status here is unusually country-specific and contested, see our full country-by-country disclaimer rather than assuming this species can be hunted where you are.