Linnet
Linnets are small songbirds belonging to the genus Linaria, which includes several species such as the common linnet (Linaria cannabina) and the Yemen linnet (Linaria yemenensis). Typically measuring about five inches long and weighing between 1/2 to 1 ounce, these birds exhibit sexual dimorphism; males display brighter plumage with crimson and chestnut coloration during breeding season, while females have more subdued brown-blotched feathers. Linnets primarily inhabit farmlands, thickets, and parks, often foraging for seeds from various plants, including flax and hemp, which are integral to their diet.
Social by nature, they form loose colonies in winter, sometimes exceeding 200 birds, and can migrate over considerable distances. Nesting occurs from April to July in protected locations such as gorse thickets, where females construct cup-shaped nests. Each breeding cycle produces four to six eggs, and both parents care for the young until they fledge. Historically sought after as songbirds, linnet populations have faced threats from habitat loss, pesticide use, and predation, although they continue to exist in stable numbers. Their average lifespan is around two years, with some individuals living up to eight years.
On this Page
Subject Terms
Linnet
Linnets belong to the genus Linaria, which is named for the Latin word linum, meaning "flax." Linnets enjoy eating flax, along with various seeds, fruit, invertebrates, and buds. They often eat while hanging upside down.
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Fringillidae
Genus: Linaria
Species: Various (see below)
Linnets are five inches (13 centimeters) long and weigh between 1/2 and 1 ounce (14 to 28 grams). Females have brown-blotched plumage, or feathering, with gray faces. Their breasts are light brown with dark brown spots, and their bellies are white. They have forked tails with white edges. The males are more colorful. Their winter plumage has crimson on the crowns of their heads and breasts, chestnut brown on their backs, and white on their bellies. During the breeding season, these colors are brighter than during the winter.
Farmlands, thickets, parks, and vacant lots are the habitats for flocks of linnets. During breeding season they live in smaller groups. They may live in loose colonies of 200 or more birds in the winter, and these colonies may include other bird species, like other finches. The linnets are in the grouping of finches known as cardueline finches (subfamily Carduelinae). These flocks may migrate, some flying from northern Europe to southern Europe and from southern Europe to North Africa.
Linnets forage on the ground and use their small beaks to eat the small seeds from various weeds like those in the mustard, daisy, and dock families. Dandelions and chickweeds are also popular. In some areas, the birds are unwelcome because they eat seeds from farmers' fields. Part of the bird's scientific name, cannabina, refers to the hemp plant, from which the drug marijuana comes. Linnets eat the seeds of flax and hemp plants.
Between April and July, the linnets breed. The females build cup-shaped nests in the dense, tangled branches and prickers of gorse thickets or in hawthorn scrub, bramble bushes, and other hedges. These places hide the nests of twigs and grass and protect the birds from predators. Four to six bluish-white eggs with light gray markings or red blotches rest on a nest lining of wool, hair, feathers, and soft fibers of thistles called thistledown. The eggs hatch after an incubation period of 11 to 13 days. Both parents feed small insects and seeds to their young, which fledge, or fly for the first time, after 11 to 17 days. A pair of linnets may raise two to three broods, or groups of young, each year. The young mate for the first time when they are one year old.
Linnets were popular songbirds that people in Europe years ago trapped and kept in cages. This caused a decrease in the wild population of the birds, and governments passed laws to protect the birds. More recently, herbicides, or chemicals to kill weeds, have threatened the linnets. Another threat is the removal of hedges where the birds nest. Large birds of prey like hawks and eagles prey on linnets. Despite these dangers, the linnets survive in fair numbers across their range.
The life span of linnets is around two years, with a maximum of eight years.
Species include:
Common linnet Linaria cannabina
Warsangli linnet Linaria johannis
Yemen linnet Linaria yemenensis
Bibliography
"Linnet." A-Z Animals, 7 Sept. 2022, a-z-animals.com/animals/linnet-2. Accessed 1 May 2024.
"Linnet." British Trust for Ornithology, www.bto.org/understanding-birds/birdfacts/linnet. Accessed 1 May 2024.
"Linnet." The Wildlife Trusts, www.wildlifetrusts.org/wildlife-explorer/birds/finches-and-buntings/linnet. Accessed 1 May 2024.