A flash of green and yellow goes by so quickly the colours merge and there is no time to identify the colourful passer-by: a Siskin, a pair of Goldfinches, a Serin? It is a Greenfinch. Resident all the year in Spain, the male’s summer plumage [below, top] is brilliant. The female [below, bottom] is disappointingly dull. Seen often in flocks, Greenfinches fly up together all of a rush. They are fast fliers, with quick bursts of speed and following an undulating path.

Listen to the song of the Greenfinch and read more about it at the RSPB website.

5 to remember
un Verderón – a Greenfinch
un resplandor – a flash
tan rapido – so quickly
unir – to merge
el plumaje – the plumage

Listen to the song of these other birds we see in our Spanish valley:-
Swallow
Short-Toed Eagle
Bee-Eater

 

‘RSPB Complete Birds of Britain and Europe’ [UK: Dorling Kindersley]

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
Greenfinch: a flash of green & yellow #Birds in #Spain via @Spanish_Valley http://wp.me/p3dYp6-1Iq

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