Finch
The finches have a near-global distribution, being found across the Americas, Eurasia and Africa, as well as some island groups such as the Hawaiian islands. They are absent from Australasia, Antarctica, the Southern Pacific and the islands of the Indian Ocean, although some European species have been widely introduced in Australia and New Zealand.
Finch
The smallest "classical" true finches are the Andean siskin ("Spinus spinescens") at as little as 9.5 cm (3.8 in) and the lesser goldfinch ("Spinus psaltria") at as little as . The largest species is probably the collared grosbeak ("Mycerobas affinis") at up to and , although larger lengths, to in the pine grosbeak ("Pinicola enucleator"), and weights, to in the evening grosbeak ("Hesperiphona vespertinus"), have been recorded in species which are slightly smaller on average. They typically have strong, stubby beaks, which in some species can be quite large; however, Hawaiian honeycreepers are famous for the wide range of bill shapes and sizes brought about by adaptive radiation. All true finches have 9 primary remiges and 12 rectrices. The basic plumage colour is brownish, sometimes greenish; many have considerable amounts of black, while white plumage is generally absent except as wing-bars or other signalling marks. Bright yellow and red carotenoid pigments are commonplace in this family, and thus blue structural colours are rather rare, as the yellow pigments turn the blue color into green. Many, but by no means all true finches have strong sexual dichromatism, the females typically lacking the bright carotenoid markings of males.