Great Tit vs Hawfinch
Parus major compared with Coccothraustes coccothraustes
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Attribute | Great Tit | Hawfinch |
|---|---|---|
| Scientific Name | Parus major | Coccothraustes coccothraustes |
| Order | Passeriformes | Passeriformes |
| Family | Paridae | Fringillidae |
| Conservation Status | Least Concern | Least Concern |
| Length | 14.0 cm (5.5 in) | 18.0 cm (7.1 in) |
| Wingspan | 24.0 cm (9.4 in) | 32.0 cm (12.6 in) |
| Weight | 18.0 g (0.63 oz) | 55.0 g (1.94 oz) |
| Diet | Insects and spiders in summer, seeds and nuts in winter. A frequent and dominant visitor … | Seeds and kernels, especially from cherries, olives, elms, and hornbeams. The bill exerts a force … |
| Clutch Size | 3-18 | 3-5 |
| Population Trend | — | — |
Size Comparison
Habitat Comparison
Great Tit
Deciduous and mixed woodland, parks, gardens, and hedgerows. Readily uses nest boxes. Highly adaptable to human environments.
Hawfinch
Deciduous and mixed woodland, orchards, parks, and large gardens with mature fruiting trees.
Song & Call Comparison
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.
Hawfinch
A sharp, metallic 'tsick' call — the primary vocalization and often all that's heard. Song is a thin, reedy warble. Generally inconspicuous vocally despite its striking appearance.
Geographic Range & Migration
Great Tit
Widespread across Europe and Asia from Britain to Japan, and south to North Africa and Southeast Asia.
Hawfinch
Europe, North Africa, and western and central Asia. Partially migratory, with northern populations moving south in winter.
Conservation Status
Great Tit
Hawfinch
How to Tell Them Apart
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
Hawfinch
Orange-brown head with a black bib and eye stripe. Warm brown back, grey nape, and broad white wing bar. Massive head and bill give a top-heavy appearance.
Enormously powerful, conical, pale bill capable of cracking cherry and olive stones
About These Birds
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.
Hawfinch
The hawfinch possesses the most powerful bill relative to body size of any European bird, capable of cracking cherry stones that require a force of 27-43 kg. Despite its distinctive appearance, it is famously shy and difficult to observe. The skull contains special adaptations to absorb the enormous forces generated during seed-cracking.