Madeira Chaffinch
Fringilla maderensis
The Madeira Chaffinch (Fringilla maderensis) is a rare finches, euphonias, and alli found only in Portugal. The Madeira chaffinch is a small passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae.
About the Madeira Chaffinch
The Madeira chaffinch is a small passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae. It was formerly treated as a subspecies of the Eurasian chaffinch, but was recently revised to be a species in its own right, following a genetic and morphological analysis of the genus Fringilla in 2021. It is endemic to the Portuguese island of Madeira, part of Macaronesia in the North Atlantic Ocean. It is locally known as the tentilhão.
Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
How to identify it
The male is more brightly coloured than the female. It has a pinkish breast, bluish-grey cap and greenish-brown back. The female's colouring is more subdued with a cream breast and brownish back, but both sexes have prominent white wing-bars and tail-sides. The length is 14.5–16 cm (5.7–6.3 in).
Where it lives
When to see it
Best months: February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December, with peak activity in May. It is a resident species across most of its range.
Easily confused with
Quick questions
- How do you identify a Madeira Chaffinch?
- The male is more brightly coloured than the female. Full identification notes are on this page.
- Where can you see a Madeira Chaffinch?
- The Madeira Chaffinch is endemic to Portugal, which is the only country where it occurs.
- What birds look similar to a Madeira Chaffinch?
- The Madeira Chaffinch is most easily confused with the Canary Islands Chaffinch, the Tenerife Blue Chaffinch and the Gran Canaria Blue Chaffinch.
Learn the Madeira Chaffinch for real
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