Chaffinch

Fringilla coelebs

This bright and colourful bird is a regular visitor to our bird feeder. Only today I watched it sip water from the bird bath, and just sit there for a good while perched on the edge of it, looking around before taking its fill of sunflower seeds from the feeder. These images are of the male of the species, which is much brighter with his bright red underbelly, the female being a plainer olive-green.

It eats a variety of invertebrates in the summer, mainly caterpillars, but otherwise takes seeds and berries, and visits bird tables for mixed seeds particularly, sunflower seeds.

The nest is a camouflaged cup of grass, moss, cobweb, and lichen against the trunk of a tree or bush. The female lays 4 or 5 eggs in 1 brood from April to May. Chaffinches can live for up to 5 years.

It is seen all year round, and is found in woods and parks, and is a very common visitor to the garden where it can become quite tame and used to people, so much so it may even feed out of your hand. A common and widespread bird throughout the United Kingdom.

Photographs taken April 2014, rear garden, Staffordshire.

07/1607/16 by Peter Hillman Categories: Animals (Vertebrates), Birds, Garden, Garden Birds, Nature PhotographyTags: Bird, Birds, Chaffinch, Finches, Fringilla coelebs, Fringillidae, Nature, Nature Photography, Wildlife Photography 4 Comments