One of the most common birds at all latitudes is the finch , whose ornithological name is Fringilla Coelebs , a passerine with a colorful plumage.

The appellation that accompanies the name derives from the Latin ” celibate ”  because it was noted that the Scandinavian female specimens abandoned the males at the end of autumn to migrate south to less rigid climates.

Characteristics
Feeding
Habitat

Finch, morphological and behavioral characteristics

The finch is a small passerine, its weight is around 20 grams, reaches about 18 cm in length and a wingspan of 28 cm.

It is easily identifiable by its characteristic colored plumage and its structure. It is a small bird with a strong appearance, a square head, a black or blue beak in the mating season, which lightens to a pinkish color in winter, black eyes and flesh-colored legs.

Male and female differ from each other for the coloring of the plumage , it is called sexual dichromatism: in the male subjects the front part above the beak, and the terminal part of the wings is black, the head, the nape and around the neck the plumage is blue-gray, the muzzle, the chest and the belly are of a rust color which fades towards the belly in a cinnamon color.

The undertail is white and the back is reddish. The wings have an almost geometric white motif that is also repeated on the tail plumage. The females, on the other hand, do not have this whole range of colors: a range of browns that turn to yellow and white from the back to the belly, while the wings reproduce the same geometric games in white. With the cold season the finches undergo a moult and the colors change into more faded shades.  

The finchit is a diurnal bird , which lives in small flocks and, together with its companions, searches for food, almost all the time. Characteristic is his song which he exhibits in the mating season (from April to June) and which can take up to three melodic variations. Singing is naturally the prerogative of the male specimen that courts the female.

A peculiar aspect is the learning of singing as a child simply by listening to that of others, in order to be able to reproduce it at the right moment.

Diet

Finches look for food on the ground and feed on both plant elements such as berries, shoots, grains, and seeds, as well as insects, larvae, earthworms.

Finch habitat

The finch is a monogamous bird , which nests on trees, between the hedges, on the bifurcations of the branches. The construction of the nest is done by the female, elaborate in the shape of a cup, very large, protected inside by feathers and moss.

The female manages to lay 4 or 5 eggs at the rate of one per day , which she hatches exclusively for about 14 days. The finch as mentioned adapts to different habitats, lives both in the Nordic countries and in the Mediterranean .

Those living in harsh climates are prone to migration, while the others are generally sedentary. They prefer places rich in vegetation and water even if in winter it is not unusual to see them even in city parks.