- Fringilla coelebs
Disambiguation: Common Chaffinch formerly included African Chaffinch, Azores Chaffinch, Madeira Chaffinch and Canary Islands Chaffinch.
Identification
Length 14-18 cm (5½-7 in), weight 17-29 g
- Large double white wing bars and below the lower an extra white spot.
- White tail edges
- Greenish rump
- Breeding male:
Reddish-pink underparts and grey cap.
- Winter male:
Colours slightly duller, with wingbars often tinged yellow-buff.
- Female:
Drabber and greener, but still obvious.
- Immature:
As female, but with wingbars even duller yellow-buff.
Similar species
Photo © by peterday
Khemisset, Morocco, March 2018
Brambling is often found together with Chaffinches in winter; it differs in an orange (not pink) breast and wingbars, whiter belly, dark spots on the flanks, white rump, and lacking the white sides to the tail.
In Africa in winter, this species can overlap with African Chaffinch. Males are relatively easily distinguishable but females only with great difficulty.
Distribution
Widespread and very familiar throughout Europe. It is the most common finch in most of western and northern Europe. Its range extends into western Asia. Some birds migrate to Africa in Winter.
Summer visitor in northern and eastern Europe, found all year in the rest of Europe.
Introduced in New Zealand and the Cape Town area of South Africa.
Taxonomy
Common Chaffinch formerly included African Chaffinch, Azores Chaffinch, Madeira Chaffinch and Canary Islands Chaffinch.
Subspecies
Clements recognizes these subspecies[1]:
- F. c. coelebs: continental Europe to western Siberia and Asia Minor; resident or migratory, winters south to Africa and Nepal
- F. c. gengleri: British Isles, Orkneys and Outer Hebrides; resident
- F. c. balearica: Iberian Peninsula and Balearic Islands; resident
- F. c. sarda: Sardinia; resident
- F. c. schiebeli: Crete; resident
- F. c. syriaca: Cyprus and Levant; resident
- F. c. solomkoi: Crimean Peninsula and Caucasus; resident
- F. c. alexandrovi: northern Iran; resident
- F. c. transcaspia: northeastern Iran (Kopet Dagh and Khorasan); resident
Habitat
Woods, hedges, parks and gardens.
Behaviour
Breeding
It builds a neat cup of grass lichen or moss. The clutch consists of 4-5 light blue eggs, with purply-brown spots. Incubation takes 12-13 days with a further 13-16 days to fledging. There is 1 brood in the season which lasts from April to the end of June.
Diet
The diet includes insects in breeding season and mainly seeds at other times.
Vocalisation
Song: Song: Continuous and repetitive, especially during the breeding season, starting with 3-4 repeated notes (reminiscent of the beginning of a Willow Warbler's song), followed by a "bubbling trill" and ending with a flourish.
Call: A loud Pink Pink also some "Chip-Chip-Chip" notes.
References
- Clements, J. F., P. C. Rasmussen, T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, A. Spencer, S. M. Billerman, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2023. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2023. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Gill, F, D Donsker, and P Rasmussen (Eds). 2024. IOC World Bird List (v 14.2). Doi 10.14344/IOC.ML.14.2. http://www.worldbirdnames.org/
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Common Chaffinch. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 16 May 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Common_Chaffinch
External Links
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