Common Chaffinch

After visiting Buyukcekmeca Lake my guide, Dogan Bilge, took me to the 25 acre Yildiz Park in Istanbul. It used to be part of the imperial garden of Yildiz Palace during the reign of Sultan Abdulhamid II and is right off the Bosporus on a hill. It was late morning, getting warm, and the bird activity was reduced. However, Dogan did point out a new lifer for me, a common chaffinch, a male, standing on the branch of a tree covered in shade. It is also known as the Eurasian chaffinch, or just chaffinch. The male, which I saw, has a blue-gray cap and rust-red underparts. The English name comes from the Old English ceaffinc, where ceaf is "chaff" and finc" finch". Farmers used to thresh their crops and these birds used to spend weeks picking through heaps of discarded chaff for grain.  There are a number of subspecies and I saw the ssp. schiebeli which is found in southern Greece, Crete and western Turkey. 

Illustration of a female from Birds of the World. 

Illustration of a male from Birds of the World. 

Range from Birds of the World.