the.com/chaffinch
the suburban songbird that learns its tune like a teenager picking up a regional accent.
means A small, common European finch with a cheerful song, the male sporting a slate-blue crown, pinkish chest, and bold white wing-bars.
from From Old English 'ceaffinc', a marriage of 'ceaf' (chaff) and 'finc' (finch) — so literally a 'chaff-finch', named for its habit of hanging about barns and threshing-floors to pick through the husks left after winnowing grain. The 'finch' half is an old Germanic bird-name, possibly echoing the bird's sharp 'fink' call, and it has cousins across Europe in the German 'Fink' and Dutch 'vink'.
- dialect
- songs vary by region, learned not inherited
- name origin
- old english for chaff-pecker, scavenging threshed grain
- abundance
- among britain's most common breeding birds
- winter flocks
- females migrate farther than males
- sharp eyes
- can spot food from impressive distances
common chaffinch — widespread european finch with distinctive blue-grey head and pink breast, one of europe's most abundant birds
azores chaffinch — endemic subspecies found only in the azores islands, darker plumage than continental populations