The Canary Islands chaffinch (''Fringilla canariensis'') is a species of
passerine
A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped') which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines generally have an anisodactyl arrangement of their ...
bird
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...
in the
finch
The true finches are small to medium-sized passerine birds in the family Fringillidae. Finches generally have stout conical bills adapted for eating seeds and nuts and often have colourful plumage. They occupy a great range of habitats where the ...
family Fringillidae. It was formerly considered to be a
subspecies
In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...
group within the widespread
Eurasian chaffinch ''F. coelebs'', but was recently revised to be a species in its own right, following a genetic and morphological analysis of the genus ''
Fringilla
The genus ''Fringilla'' is a small group of eight species of finches from the Old World. It is the only genus in the subfamily Fringillinae.
Taxonomy
The genus ''Fringilla'' was described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the 1 ...
'' in 2021.
It is
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...
to the
Canary Islands
The Canary Islands (; ) or Canaries are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Community of Spain. They are located in the northwest of Africa, with the closest point to the cont ...
, and is thought to be largely resident within its distribution.
Taxonomy
There are four recognised subspecies:
*''F. c. bakeri''
Illera, Rando, M. Hernández, Claramunt, & A. Martin, 2018 –
Gran Canaria
Gran Canaria (, ; ), also Grand Canary Island, is the third-largest and second-most-populous island of the Canary Islands, a Spain, Spanish archipelago off the Atlantic coast of Northwest Africa. the island had a population of that constitut ...
*''F. c. canariensis''
Vieillot, 1817 –
Tenerife
Tenerife ( ; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands, an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. With a land area of and a population of 965,575 inhabitants as of A ...
,
La Gomera
La Gomera () is one of Spain's Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa. With an area of , it is the third-smallest of the archipelago's eight main islands. It belongs to the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. La Gomer ...
*''F. c. ombriosa''
Hartert, 1913 –
El Hierro
*''F. c. palmae''
Tristram, 1889 –
La Palma
La Palma (, ), also known as ''La isla bonita'' () and historically San Miguel de La Palma, is the most northwesterly island of the Canary Islands, a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in Macaronesia in the North Atlantic Ocean. La Pa ...
Description
The Canary Islands chaffinch is similar in size to the Eurasian chaffinch at around 15–16 cm long, but differs markedly in plumage of the male, with a dark blue-grey mantle, and lighter pink face and breast, and whiter belly and undertail. As with all chaffinch species, the female is duller brown. The bill is similar to Eurasian and
African chaffinches, not distinctly large like the related
Azores chaffinch.
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q120964621
Fringilla
Birds of the Canary Islands
Birds described in 1817
Taxa named by Louis Pierre Vieillot