Trivia: Hawfinch

• The huge beak of the hawfinch ( Coccothraustes coccothraustes) is incredibly strong. It can break open a cherry stone or a damson stone (try doing so with a nutcracker). Test show that to do this 120 pounds of pressure/inch need to be applied. Not bad for a bird weighing some 55 grammes. It has been suggested that this proess is capable of severing a ringer's finger though I am unware if this has ever happened.
• The hawfinch is the largest finch in Britain.
• The haw in the finch comes from haw, the fruit of hawthorn.
• The elusive hawfinich is found throughout much of Europe and Asia In Mainland Chinese it is known as xi-zui-què
  'tin-billed finch' while in Taiwan it goes by là-zui-què 'cured meat-billed finch' - See Birds in Chinese, Vietnamese and Japanese culture

facts about hawfinch -

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