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677 Featured Specimen
Common chaffinch

Details

Common chaffinch

Fringilla coelebs

Size
14–16 cm · 18–29 g
Diet
Omnivore
Activity
Diurnal
Sociality
Loose group
Lifespan

A common finch of European woods and gardens; males show a blue-gray head, warm breast, and bold white wing bars.

Range

Habitat range map
Native range Occasional / Transient
PalearcticPalearcticPalearcticPalearcticPalearcticPalearcticPalearcticPalearcticPalearcticPalearcticPalearcticPalearcticPalearcticPalearcticPalearcticPalearcticPalearcticPalearcticPalearcticPalearcticPalearcticPalearcticPalearcticPalearcticAfrotropicalAfrotropicalAfrotropicalAfrotropical

Map: Ecoregions 2017 © RESOLVE (CC BY 4.0) · Natural Earth (PD)

Details

Habitat

Uses deciduous and conifer woodland, edges, parks, gardens, and farm hedgerows, especially tree-rich places for nesting.

Appearance

Males have a blue-gray head, reddish underparts, and white wing bars. Females are browner but still show white wing and tail marks.

Behavior

Breeding males sing from exposed branches. In winter, small flocks often descend to the ground to search for seeds.

Feeding

Seeds, buds, fruit, and insects are eaten, with chicks receiving many insects and other animal foods.

Reproduction

A neat cup nest of moss and lichens is built in a forked branch. Females incubate, and both adults feed the chicks.

Notes

One of Europe's familiar birds, it persists well in mixed landscapes of woodland, farmland, and parks.