Four bullfinches are identifiable, one above centre, the other three below.
There are the remains of a signature and the date 1668 over the hole in the tree trunk, which makes it one of the earliest known dated works by d'Hondecoeter. The attribution to d'Hondecoeter is confirmed by a signed painting (Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum) in which the birds, trees and most of the butterflies and fungi are repeated.
