The breeding biology of the Goldfinch in south-eastern Australia

Abstract

The behaviour of breeding Goldfinches, observed near Melbourne, Victoria, for one partial and two complete breeding seasons (November 1962–February 1965), remained essentially unchanged from ancestral Europe. Of 166 nests found, all but fourteen were built in exotic shrubbery. Mean clutch-size was 4.8 eggs, and mean incubation and nesting periods of 13 and 15 days respectively were calculated. Only 28.9 per cent of all nests in which eggs were laid produced fledglings. This low nesting success was apparently the combined result of predation, weather and desertion.