Common Chaffinch

• It is famous for its "rain call", a series of repeated notes often given before rain.
• It has marked regional song dialects, learned culturally from neighbouring adults.
• It eats insects and caterpillars in summer, and seeds, grain and berries the rest of the year.

Skeleton type

Vertebrate - pneumatised bony skeleton (bird)

Habitat and environment

Woodland, farmland, parks and gardens across much of Europe, North Africa and western Asia

Birth weight

Tiny, blind and featherless at hatching

Size at birth

Tiny at hatching

Sexual maturity

1 year

Gestation / incubation

10-16 days (usual reference 12-14 days)

Litter / clutch size

4 to 5 eggs per clutch

Life expectancy in captivity

Documented record of up to 29 years in captivity

Sources consulted: AnAge (genomics.senescence.info) · Birdfact · Garden Wildlife Direct · Animalia.bio · Binocular Base · Songbird Survival · Wikipedia (Common chaffinch) · Birds of the World · bioRxiv (genome assembly study)

Best time: All year round; in winter flocks arrive from northern Europe and it gathers in numbers in woods, fields and at feeders.