Common Chaffinch
Fringilla coelebs
Also known as: Chaffinch, Eurasian Chaffinch
Habitat
Ground
Diet
Invertebrate
Active Time
Diurnal
Size
24 g
About This Species
A colourful finch of woodland, hedgerows, orchards, and gardens across Europe, most easily recognised by the male's blue-grey crown and pinkish breast, with white wing bars flashing in flight on both sexes. It forages on the ground and in low vegetation for seeds and insects, and its cheerful, cascading song is one of the first heard in spring woodland. Late winter through spring is the best time to hear singing males establishing territory, while feeder visits are more frequent in colder months.
Ethical Viewing Guidelines
- This is an abundant species that visits feeders and forages close to people in parks and gardens, so no special approach distance is needed for casual viewing.
- Nests are cup-shaped and built in shrubs or tree forks, and as with other wild birds in the UK and EU these are protected by law, so hedge and shrub cutting is best avoided during the spring nesting season.
- Keeping feeders clean helps reduce disease transmission at the dense gatherings the species can form in winter.
Seasonal Activity
9,199,554 sightings · 2000–2026
Citizen science records via GBIF
Classification
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Fringillidae
Traits
- Diet
- Invertebrate
- Foraging
- Ground
- Activity
- Diurnal
- Body mass
- 24 g
Photo
(c) Caiden B, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Caiden B
CC-BY-NC-4.0
Occurrence data from GBIF.