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Bird name:

Common Chaffinch

Fringilla coelebsOrder: PASSERIFORMES Family: Finches (Fringillidae)

Codes: Common Name: COCH Scientific Name: FRICOE ITIS Taxonomic No.: 179168

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

General

Common Chaffinch: Medium-sized, buff finch. Crown and nape are blue-gray; belly and vent are white. Wings are dark with white shoulder patches and single white bars. Female has uniformly gray-brown upperparts and yellow-gray underparts.

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

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.

● 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

Underparts

Belly, undertail coverts, chest, flanks, and foreneck.

Upperparts

Back, rump, hindneck, wings, and crown.

Belly

The ventral part of the bird, or the area between the flanks on each side and the crissum and breast. Flight muscles are located between the belly and the breast.

Crown

The crown is the top part of the birds head.

Nape

Also called the hindneck or collar, it is the back of the neck where the head joins the body.

Shoulder

The short feathers overlying the median secondary coverts on the top of the wing. They are located near the back and can be seen as the “first row” of feathers on the birds wing. They are also called marginal coverts and lesser secondary coverts.

Vent

Birds do not have two separate cavities for excrement and reproduction like humans do. In birds, there is one single entrance/exit that suits both functions called the vent, cloaca or anus.

4 and 6 letter alpha codes

The four letter common name alpha code is is derived from the first two letters of the common first name and the first two letters of common last name. The six letter species name alpha code is derived from the first three letters of the scientific name (genus) and the first three letters of the scientific name (species). See (1) below for the rules used to create the codes..

Four-letter (for English common names) and six-letter (for scientific names) species alpha codes were developed by Pyle and DeSante (2003, North American Bird-Bander 28:64-79) to reflect A.O.U. taxonomy and nomenclature (A.O.U. 1998) as modified by Supplements 42 (Auk 117:847-858, 2000) and 43 (Auk 119:897-906, 2002). The list has been updated by Pyle and DeSante to reflect changes reported by the A.O.U from 2003 through 2006.

Field Guide to Birds of North America

Common Chaffinch

Breeding Location:

Breeding Type:

Breeding Population:

Egg Color:

Number of Eggs:

Incubation Days:

Egg Incubator:

Nest Material:

Migration:

Recommended Products:

General

Range and Habitat

Breeding and Nesting

Foraging and Feeding

Readily Eats

Vocalization

Similar Species

Common Chaffinch

Flight Pattern