Mr. Chaffinch - an interesting guy

The common chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs), usually known simply as the chaffinch, is a common and widespread small passerine bird in the finch family. Apparently it is a popular pet bird in some European countries! In Belgium, the ancient traditional sport of vinkenzetting pits male chaffinches against one another in a contest for the most bird calls in an hour - sounds like great fun!

In England too, the bird is popular - here depicted in one of Robert Browning's poems:


Oh, to be in England,
Now that April’s there,
And whoever wakes in England
Sees some morning, unaware,
That the lowest boughs and the brushwood sheaf,
Round the elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf
While the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough
In England—now.