Common Chaffinch

Fringilla coelebs male · Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

Info

Common name: Common Chaffinch Scientific name: Fringilla coelebs

The common chaffinch is one of the most abundant and widespread birds in Europe. The breeding male is striking: a slate-blue cap and nape, brick-pink face and breast, olive-green rump, and two bold white wing bars that flash conspicuously in flight. The female is considerably plainer but shares the same diagnostic wing pattern.

The species name coelebs — Latin for “bachelor” — was given by Linnaeus because he observed that in Scandinavia during winter, females migrate south while males stay behind. In Portugal the chaffinch is a year-round resident, extremely common in woodlands, farmland edges, orchards, and gardens.

Its song is a vigorous cascade of notes that ends with a distinctive flourish, and the sharp pink call note is among the most frequently heard sounds in any Portuguese woodland. A traditional belief holds that its quiet huit rain call predicts incoming weather.

Song & Call

Recording XC717187 via xeno-canto.org — Creative Commons licensed.

First recorded: 26 May 2026 · Cruz de Argola, Guimarães, Portugal