Blue Chaffinch
Fringilla teydea · Finches
Blue Chaffinch, on lichen
Tenerife, 13 April 2026
A Blue Chaffinch on a lichen-hung branch in the pine forest of Tenerife, greyer and plainer than the slate-blue male - a female or a young bird. Found nowhere on earth but the Canary Island pine forests of this one island, and dependent on that one tree for its seed and its nesting sites.
That makes the whole species hostage to the forest. The pine survives fire; the chaffinch survives because the pine does. The blue in this species belongs to adult males.
Tenerife Blue Chaffinch
Tenerife, 13 April 2026
A Tenerife Blue Chaffinch in the Canary Island pine forest, which is the whole of its world. It is found nowhere on earth but the pine belt of this one island, and almost entirely dependent on one tree: the Canary Island pine, whose seeds it eats and in whose canopy it nests.
That makes the whole species hostage to a single habitat on a single island. Its closest relative, the Gran Canaria blue chaffinch, was split off as a separate species in 2016 and is down to a few hundred birds. This one is doing better, but "better" still means a world population you could fit in a large village.
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