Common Chaffinch: In winter

The Common Chaffinch is a partial migrant - some stay while most head south.

  • Who stays: mainly males and birds in southern Sweden. Even Linnaeus noted that the winter flocks in Uppsala consisted mostly of males, which gave the species its Latin name coelebs ("bachelor").
  • Food: spilt grain and fallen seeds on stubble fields and under bird feeders, readily in mixed flocks.
  • Reinforcements: the number of overwintering birds varies from year to year depending on the beech mast crop.

More about the Common Chaffinch

  • Song & calls
  • Breeding
  • Nest & eggs
  • Diet
  • Male & female
  • Migration
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