From Opus

Male
Photo by vicky_king
Ynys-hir, Wales, July 2004

Fringilla coelebs

[edit] Identification

L. 14-16 cm

• Large double white wing bars and below the lower an extra white spot.
• White tail edges
• Greenish rump
• Breeding Male: Reddish underparts and grey cap
• Female: Drabber and greener, but still obvious.

Female
Photo by postcardcv
RSPB Ynys-hir, Wales, July 2004

Variation: Males in north Africa and The Canaries look quite different, more blue and less red colors showing. See also ref^[1]

[edit] Distribution

This bird is widespread and very familiar throughout Europe. It is the most common finch in western Europe. Its range extends into western Asia, north-western Africa, the Canary Islands and Madeira.

It is also found on Tenerife and Gran Canaria, along with the related endemic Blue Chaffinch.

Summer visitor in North and Eastern Europe, found all year in the rest of Europe.

[edit] Taxonomy

Male of subspecies africana
Photo by sdaly
Middle Atlas, Morocco, November 2005

[edit] Subspecies

There are 16 subspecies^[2] which can be grouped into three main groups: European (including UK), North African, and the forms on the Canaries. Some of these forms might warrant status as full species.

• F. c. moreletti: Azores
• F. c. maderensis: Madeira
• F. c. canariensis: Canary Islands (Gran Canaria, Gomera and Tenerife)
• F. c. ombriosa: Hierro (Canary Islands)
• F. c. palmae: La Palma (Canary Islands)
• F. c. africana: North-western Africa (Morocco to north-western Tunisia)
• F. c. spodiogenys: Eastern Tunisia and north-western Libya
• F. c. coelebs: Continental Europe to Siberia and Asia Minor; winters to Africa
• F. c. gengleri: British Isles, Orkneys and Outer Hebrides
• F. c. balearica: Iberian Peninsula and Balearic Islands

Male of subspecies canariensis
Photo by acrocephalus00
La Gomera, Canary Islands.

• F. c. sarda: Sardinia
• F. c. schiebeli: Crete
• F. c. syriaca: Cyprus and Levant
• F. c. solomkoi: Crimean Peninsula and Caucasus
• F. c. alexandrovi: Northern Iran
• F. c. transcaspica: North-eastern Iran (southern Transcaspia in Kopet Dagh and Khorasan)

[edit] Habitat

Woods, hedges, parks and gardens.

[edit] Behaviour

[edit] Breeding

It builds a neat cup of grass lichen or moss. The clutch consists of 4-5 light blue eggs, with purply-brown spots. Incubation takes 12-13 days with a further 13-16 days to fledging. There is 1 brood in the season which lasts from April to the end of June.

[edit] Diet

Photo by Rookery
Te Awanga, Hawke's Bay, New Zealand, July 2011

The diet includes insects in breeding season and mainly seeds at other times.

[edit] Vocalisation

Song: A series of Chip-Chip-Chip notes
Call: A loud Pink Pink

[edit] References

1. Thread in the BF id forum discussing aberrant bluish Chaffinch.
2. Clements, JF. 2009. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2009. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019.
3. Bird Watching

• List of references

[edit] External Links