Common Chaffinch

Fringilla coelebsOrder: PASSERIFORMESFamily: Finches (Fringillidae)

Breeding Location:

Forest

Breeding Type:

Monogamous, Solitary nester

Breeding Population:

Accidental in North America

Egg Color:

Light pink or gray with red brown markings

Number of Eggs:

3 - 6

Incubation Days:

10 - 16

Egg Incubator:

Female

Nest Material:

Grasses, lichen, moss, and feathers, held together by spiders' webbing and lined with finer materials.

Migration:

Migratory

Overview

Common Chaffinch: Medium finch. Buff body. Crown and nape are blue-gray; belly and vent are white. Dark wings with white shoulder patches and single white bars. Forages in trees, bushes. Eats seeds and insects. Bounding flight, alternates rapid wing beats with wings pulled to sides.

Range and Habitat

Common Chaffinch: Eurasian species; widely scattered as far as north Africa, western Asia, southern Russia, and western Siberia. Accidental during migration in the Maritimes and in Massachusetts and Maine; found almost anywhere with scattered shrubs and trees, orchards, farmlands, parks, gardens, and suburbs.

Breeding and Nesting

Common Chaffinch: Three to six light pink or gray eggs with red brown markings are laid in a nest made of grass, lichens, moss, rootlets, and feathers, held together by spider webs, and lined with finer materials. Incubation ranges from 10 to 18 days and is carried out by the female.

Foraging and Feeding

Common Chaffinch: Eats mainly seeds and insects; forages in trees and bushes.

Readily Eats

Safflower, Apple Slices, Suet, Millet, Peanut Kernels, Fruit, Commercial Mixed Bird Seed

Vocalization

Common Chaffinch: Song is a bold, warbling "fyeet, fyeet, lya-lya-vee, chee-yew-keak." Call is "pink-pink"; has flight call of "cheup."

Similar Species

Common Chaffinch: None in range.

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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

Common Chaffinch

● Song: "fyeet, fyeet, lya-lya-vee, chee-yew-keak"

● Foraging & Feeding: Common Chaffinch: Eats mainly seeds and insects; forages in trees and bushes.

● Breeding & nesting: Common Chaffinch: Three to six light pink or gray eggs with red brown markings are laid in a nest made of grass, lichens, moss, rootlets, and feathers, held together by spider webs, and lined with finer materials. Incubation ranges from 10 to 18 days and is carried out by the female.

● Similar species: Common Chaffinch: None in range.

Flight Pattern

Somewhat bounding flight with rapid wing beats alternating with brief periods of wings pulled to sides.

Common Chaffinch Breeding Male Body Illustration

● Range & Habitat: Common Chaffinch: Eurasian species; widely scattered as far as north Africa, western Asia, southern Russia, and western Siberia. Accidental during migration in the Maritimes and in Massachusetts and Maine; found almost anywhere with scattered shrubs and trees, orchards, farmlands, parks, gardens, and suburbs.

^BreedingMonogamous, Solitary nester

^PopulationAccidental in North America

^MigrationMigratory

^Weight0.8 Ounces

Field Guide to Birds of North America