Common Chaffinch

The Common Chaffinch is a common and easy to recognize passerine. The adult male nuptial is rather showy. The mantle and the upper back are warm brown-maroon. The head is slate grey, except for the black forehead and the lores, cheeks and ear coverts which is chestnut. The beak is blue-grey. Two wide white bands separated by black on the wing covers are diagnostic and very visible, when perched or in flight. The large covers often tend to light yellow. The dark remiges are bordered with yellow. The rump and the uppertail covers are olive. The dark tail shows white in the two pairs of external rectrices. The lower parts are brightly pinkish, sometimes with an orange-brown tinge. The underbelly and the undertail covers are white. The legs are pinkish. In winter, the colors are muted and it is the wear of the plumage that will reveal the underlying beautiful colors for reproduction.
The female has much less striking plumage. The mantle is dull brown. The head and underside are beige shaded with gray, except for the undertail coverts which are white. The crown is darker, often with a brighter median line. The eye is circled in white. The beak is pinkish or horn gray. The wings bear the same white bars and the tail bears the same white external rectrices as the male, but the white is less expansive. The rump is also greenish.
The juvenile is even more dull than the female. Fortunately, the white wings and tail make it recognizable. It has a pale spot on the nape.
In the Macaronesian islands and in North Africa, well differentiated subspecies of the type ssp are found. They are darker above (blue head and green or blue mantle) and the underside is paler, more salmon-colored than pinkish.