Chaffinches sing a powerful song

Chaffinches are one of the prettiest and most common wild birds in France.

The male chaffinch is more brightly coloured than the female, with a black forehead, blue-grey crown and upper back, an olive green rump and a brown saddle.

The female is grey brown with a paler underside. They are best known for their powerful song, with the “fink” sounding call that gives rise to its name. Chaffinches have an extensive repertoire of birdsong, and sing almost all year long. It is, however, only the male which sings.

Chaffinches mate for life and breed in wooded areas. The female builds her nest alone, usually in the fork of a tree or a large bush lining it with a layer of thin roots and feathers. At this season she is more dominant than the male, who learns to keep his distance as she – literally – feathers her nest.

Once she starts to incubate them, he brings her insects and caterpillars to eat, and when the chicks hatch they are mainly fed caterpillars brought to them by their parents, although adult chaffinchs mainly eats seeds.

Their main predators are crows, squirrels, cats, stoats and weasels who will eat either the eggs or the chicks if they find them unguarded.

The male chaffinch is very aggressive during the breeding season, defending his nesting territory with great energy. Other threats are insecticides and pollution. In France they are protected and their numbers are stable.

Outside the breeding season, chaffinches tend to separate into male and female groups, and can be seen walking rather than hopping along the ground looking for seeds.
They particularly like beech seeds and pine nuts, preferring to search for them on the ground; under a bird feeder than on the bird table itself.