Serin Call MP3s
High-quality recordings for anyone who needs to recognize or reproduce the Serin's fast, jingling song in the field.
Also known as
Recordings (4)
About this species
The Serin (Serinus serinus) is a passerine songbird of around 11 cm — the smallest European finch, streaky and yellow with a stubby bill. It favours towns, gardens, orchards and tree-lined avenues.
The male's fast, jangling, glassy trill is delivered in a fluttering song-flight. It feeds on the small seeds of weeds and wild flowers, often far from cover. The male delivers its glassy trill in a fluttering, bat-like song-flight over rooftops. Its voice is woven into the soundscape of the European countryside through spring and summer.
Legal use
The Serin is a small finch protected across the European Union under the Birds Directive and is not a legally huntable game species anywhere in its Mediterranean and Central European range. The main conflict involving this species is Malta's controversial autumn trapping of wild finches, including Serin, under a "research" derogation — the EU Court of Justice has twice ruled this type of derogation unlawful (2018 and 2024), and the European Commission has opened fresh infringement proceedings after Malta reopened a trapping season for Serin and other finches in late 2025. In other words, this is live-trapping that EU authorities consider illegal, not sanctioned hunting, even though Malta continues to permit it in practice. In practice this recording is for birdwatching, species identification, and study rather than any hunting or trapping use. Rules on recording use, playback, and bird capture vary by country, so please check our full country-by-country disclaimer before using this audio in the field.