European Goldfinch vs Great Tit
Carduelis carduelis compared with Parus major
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Attribute | European Goldfinch | Great Tit |
|---|---|---|
| Scientific Name | Carduelis carduelis | Parus major |
| Order | Passeriformes | Passeriformes |
| Family | Fringillidae | Paridae |
| Conservation Status | Least Concern | Least Concern |
| Length | 13.0 cm (5.1 in) | 14.0 cm (5.5 in) |
| Wingspan | 23.0 cm (9.1 in) | 24.0 cm (9.4 in) |
| Weight | 16.0 g (0.56 oz) | 18.0 g (0.63 oz) |
| Diet | Seeds, especially thistle (Carduus) and teasel seeds, extracted with its precise tweezer-like bill. Also takes … | Insects and spiders in summer, seeds and nuts in winter. A frequent and dominant visitor … |
| Clutch Size | 4-6 | 3-18 |
| Population Trend | — | — |
Size Comparison
Habitat Comparison
Shared Habitats
European Goldfinch only
Great Tit only
None
European Goldfinch
Open woodland, orchards, gardens, parks, and weedy fields with seed-bearing plants. Common at garden bird feeders.
Great Tit
Deciduous and mixed woodland, parks, gardens, and hedgerows. Readily uses nest boxes. Highly adaptable to human environments.
Song & Call Comparison
European Goldfinch
A liquid, tinkling 'swit-swit-swit' in flight and a melodic twittering song. Flocks produce a bright jingling chorus. Male song is a sweet repetitive warble incorporating the flight call.
Great Tit
A repetitive, teacher-teacher 'tee-cher, tee-cher, tee-cher'. Also gives ringing 'pink-pink' alarm. Highly versatile singer; over 40 song variants recorded from a single male.
Geographic Range & Migration
European Goldfinch
Europe, North Africa, and western Asia. Introduced to Australia, New Zealand, and parts of South America.
Great Tit
Widespread across Europe and Asia from Britain to Japan, and south to North Africa and Southeast Asia.
Conservation Status
European Goldfinch
Great Tit
How to Tell Them Apart
European Goldfinch
Crimson red face with white cheeks and a black crown. Sandy-brown back with a bright yellow wing bar visible in flight. Black and white tail.
Slender, pointed, ivory-pink bill adapted for extracting seeds from thistles
Great Tit
Blue-black head with white cheeks. Olive-green back, yellow underparts with a broad black central stripe. White wing bar and blue-grey tail.
Short, stout, dark bill
About These Birds
European Goldfinch
The European goldfinch is a strikingly beautiful finch whose tinkling song and colorful plumage have made it popular in art and as a caged bird for centuries. It appears frequently in Renaissance paintings as a symbol of the Passion of Christ. Flocks of goldfinches are charmingly called a charm.
Great Tit
The great tit is the largest European tit and one of the most studied wild birds in the world. Research at Wytham Woods in Oxford has monitored great tit populations since the 1940s, contributing enormously to ecology and evolution. These innovative birds famously learned to open milk bottle tops in 20th-century Britain.