Male Common Chaffinches have a blue-gray color from the top of their head down to the back of their neck. The rest of their head and body are reddish. Females are mostly grayish-brown with an olive-green lower back. Both adults have a distinctive white pattern on their wings.
- Fringilla coelebs
- Length: 5.7 in (14.5 cm)
- Weight: 0.63–1.02 oz (18–29 g)
- Wingspan: 9.6–11.2 in (24.5–28.5 cm)
Range
Common Chaffinches usually live in Europe and across to Siberia and northwestern Africa. However, they sometimes end up on the northeastern shores of Canada and the United States in winter.
Habitat And Diet
You can find Common Chaffinch in wooded and forested areas, orchards, and farmlands. They also regularly visit parks and backyards, especially those with feeders.
Common Chaffinches mostly eat seeds that they find on the ground. They rarely take food directly from plants. Their diet switches caterpillars and insects caught in the air during the breeding season.
Common Chaffinch Song:
Nests
Nests of Common Chaffinch are deep cups made of thin roots and feathers, spider silk, moss, and grass built within the fork of a tree or bush. They lay around five eggs that the female incubates for sixteen days. Nestlings gain their flight feathers eighteen days after hatching.
Fun Fact:
In Belgium, they used to have a contest where male chaffinches compete for the most bird calls in an hour.
