Common Chaffinch

Fringilla coelebs

The Eurasian chaffinch, common chaffinch, or simply the chaffinch is a common and widespread small passerine bird – in the finch family. The male is brightly coloured with a blue-grey cap and rust-red underparts. The female is more subdued in colouring, but both sexes have two contrasting white wing bars and white sides to the tail. The male bird has a strong voice and sings from exposed perches to attract a mate. Source

Where it is now

In the last 8 weeks this bird was recorded 1,932,397 times across 69 areas (each area is a 5 degree square).

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Movement and weather

Each season it is first heard regularly where daytime highs are around 19°C (typically 9 to 24°C, from 28 areas). That range is wide, so temperature alone does not explain when it turns up.

Over the weeks it was present in the past year, its centre in Europe ranged from 49°N in December to 61°N in April, about 1,300 km apart.

Arrival dates

The week it was first heard regularly in each region, after at least six weeks away. Dates differ from south to north, so a region has a range.

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Figures are effort corrected and come from automatic sound identification, which makes mistakes. How this is measured and how it compares with human observers.