Birds to look for in March — Chaffinch
Photo credit: Paul Green
Where to look
Chaffinches are one of our most common birds and can be seen everywhere from gardens to woodlands.
Description
The chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs) belongs to the finch group of birds. Finches are small birds with forked or notched tails, moderately pointed wings, rounded or elongated bodies and round heads, with more or less triangular bills (for more information see RSPB). Their beak shape varies according to the type of food that they eat and it was while studying finches in the Galapagos that Charles Darwin developed his Theory of Evolution. They show sexual dimorphism (where the males and females look very different). The males have a bluey grey top of the head with orange/pinky-red face throat and underparts. Females look like a paler brown version of the males, although the wing and tail markings are similar to the males. Chaffinches have a distinctive call made up of several sounds but the most often heard is a hard loud ‘pink’ sometimes repeated 3 or 4 times.
They eat insects and seeds
Tweet of the Day
They eat insects and seeds
Tweet of the Day
To hear the chaffinch’s song follow the link to the BBC’s Tweet of the Day
Spottings
Faith
Harrison
Satvik
Alicia
Aurelia
Tamsin
Daddy
Jo
ella
Tamsin
“Had to cheat and use a photo of a chaffinch I took last year, the chaffinches were too fast to catch this time!”
gav
“Spotted a dozen or so in a garden in St Columb Major. I <3 this bird. :]”
Tamsin
Where we've found Chaffinches
Chaffinch spottings journal (15 seen)
| Last seen | Location | Spotted by | Group | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 Apr 2024 | Stroud Valleys Project | |||
| 22 Mar 2023 | Stroud Valleys Project | |||
| 25 Apr 2022 | Stroud Valleys Project | |||
| 25 Mar 2022 | Stonehouse | Faith | Foxmoor Primary | |
| 25 Mar 2022 | Great Oldbury | Harrison | Foxmoor Primary | |
| 25 Mar 2022 | Peny-groes | Satvik | Foxmoor Primary | |
| 25 Mar 2022 | Foxmoor School | Alicia | Foxmoor Primary | |
| 25 Mar 2022 | The Bassets | Aurelia | Foxmoor Primary | |
| 7 Jul 2021 | Scotland! | Tamsin | Stroud Valleys Project | |
| 15 May 2020 | Stanley Downton | Daddy | Cooks&Co | |
| 30 Mar 2020 | Folly Lane | Jo | The Weaver's | |
| 27 Mar 2020 | capel's mill | ella | The Weaver's | |
| 25 Mar 2020 | Tamsin | Stroud Valleys Project | Had to cheat and use a photo of a chaffinch I took last year, the chaffinches were too fast to catch this time! | |
| 15 Mar 2020 | st Columb Major | gav | Blended | Spotted a dozen or so in a garden in St Columb Major. I <3 this bird. :] |
| 14 Mar 2020 | Tamsin | Blended |
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