Blue Chaffinch

Taxobox
name = Blue Chaffinch

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status = NT | status_system = IUCN3.1
trend = stable
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Aves
ordo = Passeriformes
familia = Fringillidae
genus = "Fringilla"
species = "F. teydea"
binomial = "Fringilla teydea"
binomial_authority = Webb, Berthelot & Moquin-Tandon, 1841

The Blue Chaffinch, "Fringilla teydea", is a small passerine bird in the finch family "Fringillidae".

This bird lives mainly in mountain Canary Island Pine ("Pinus canariensis") forests on Tenerife and Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands. However it can also be found in bushy areas. Its preference is for habitat at around 1100–2000 m, but it will descend lower in bad weather. Breeding from May to July, it builds its nest in a tree fork, and lays two eggs. This bird is not migratory. This species may form small flocks outside the breeding season.

The Blue Chaffinch structurally resembles a large Chaffinch with a thicker bill, but the breeding male is unmistakable, with its largely blue plumage and grey bill. The female is like a large dark grey-brown female Chaffinch, but the wing bars are much weaker and there is not so much variation in the colouration.

Blue Chaffinches primarily eat seeds, but, unlike most other finches, the young are fed extensively on insects.

Their song is shorter and weaker than that of the Chaffinch, and the flight call is croakier.

References

* Database entry includes justification for why this species is near threatened