10-2-2017 GANDIA, VALENCIA - COMMON CHAFFINCH (MALE) (Fringilla coelebs)

The Common chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs) is a common and widespread small passerine bird in the finch family. The English name of this species comes from the Old English ‘ceaffinc’, where ceaf is ‘chaff’ and finc ‘finch’. Chaffinches were likely given this name because after farmers thresh their crops, these birds sometimes spend weeks picking through heaps of discarded chaff for grain.

The adult male Common chaffinch has a black forehead and a blue-grey crown, nape and upper mantle. The rump is a light olive-green; the lower mantle and scapulars form a brown saddle. The side of the head, throat and breast are a dull rust-red merging to pale creamy pink on the belly. The central pair of tail feathers are dark grey with a black shaft streak. The rest of the tail is black apart from the two outer feathers on each side which have white wedges. Each wing has a contrasting white panel on the coverts and a buff-white bar on the secondaries and inner primaries. The flight feathers are black with white on the basal portions of the vanes. The secondaries and inner primaries have pale yellow fringes on the outer web whereas the outer primaries have a white outer edge. After the autumn moult, the tips of the new feathers have a buff fringe that adds a brown cast to the coloured plumage. The ends of the feathers wear away over the winter so that by the spring breeding season the underlying brighter colours are displayed. The eyes have dark brown irises and the legs are grey-brown. In winter the bill is a pale grey and slightly darker along the upper ridge or culmen, but in spring the bill becomes bluish-grey with a small black tip. The adult female is much duller in appearance than the male. The head and most of the upperparts are shades of grey-brown. The underparts are paler. The lower back and rump are a dull olive green. The wings and tail are similar to those of the male. The juvenile resembles the female.

The breeding range of Common chaffinches includes northwestern Africa and most of Europe and extends eastwards across temperate Asia to the Angara River and the southern end of Lake Baikal in Siberia. There are also distinctive populations in the Azores, the Canary Islands, and the Madeira Islands in the Atlantic Ocean. Common chaffinches are partial migrants; birds that breed in warmer regions are sedentary, while those breeding in the colder northern areas of their range winter further south. These birds prefer wooded areas and inhabit mixed and conifer forests and lower montane deciduous forests. They are also common in parks, gardens, orchards, agricultural areas, and hedgerows.