Linaria cannabina
Silhouette: Louis-Julien de la Bouëre · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~90% in a week >90%
The common linnet or Eurasian linnet (Linaria cannabina) is a small passerine bird of the finch family, Fringillidae. It derives its common name and the scientific name, Linaria, from its fondness for hemp seeds and flax seeds—flax being the English name of the plant from which linen is made.
In 1758, the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus included the common linnet in the 10th edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name, Acanthis cannabina. The species was formerly placed in the genus Carduelis but based on the results of a phylogenetic analysis of mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences published in 2012, it was moved to the genus Linaria that had been introduced by the German naturalist Johann Matthäus Bechstein in 1802.
The genus name linaria is the Latin for a linen-weaver, from linum, "flax". The species name cannabina comes from the Latin for hemp. The English name has a similar root, being derived from Old French linette, from lin, "flax".
There are seven recognised subspecies: Non-breeding in north Africa... Wikipedia →
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dresden Zoo | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 2 | Yerevan Zoo | 🇦🇲 Armenia | |
| 3 | Penza Zoo | 🇷🇺 Russia |
Likely
About 50% of wildlife watchers report a Linnet sighting in Mercantour National Park on a given day, based on 120 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 6th most-seen of the 79 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 90%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
June
In that month about 70% of wildlife watchers report a Linnet in Mercantour National Park on a given day, against about 30% in February, April and October, the lowest months. March and November–January have too few records to rate.
Between 11 am and 2 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Linnet sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Among the best
Of the 26 parks where we can rate Linnet sightings, Mercantour National Park ranks 2nd at about 50%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Picos de Europa National Park (Spain, about 50%). All parks ranked.
Same family: Fringillidae
The closest relatives of the Linnet that you can see in Mercantour National Park (family Fringillidae, Finches, Euphonias, and Allies) are Chaffinch (about 70%), Eurasian Goldfinch (about 50%) and European Serin (about 30%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Linnet is recorded against all the birds logged in Mercantour National Park (120 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
