Facts · Updated 9 Oct 2026
Bullfinch or Chaffinch? How to Tell Them Apart
By the Birdfact teamChecked by
Nathan Cope
Look at the cap: glossy black on a Bullfinch, blue-grey on a male Chaffinch. In flight, a Bullfinch shows a white rump and a Chaffinch a green one. Males, females and young compared, with their calls, feeding and how common each is.
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Side by side, to scale
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A Bullfinch and a Chaffinch are about the same length.
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Comparison table
The main differences at a glance.
| Bullfinch | Chaffinch | |
|---|---|---|
| Cap | Glossy black (both sexes) | Blue-grey (male); olive-brown (female) |
| Breast | Deep pink (male); grey-brown (female) | Pinkish chestnut (male); buff-grey (female) |
| Rump | White | Green |
| Wings | Black, one broad pale bar | White shoulder patch and white bar |
| Tail | Black | White outer feathers |
| Bill | Short, stubby, black | Pointed; blue-grey (male), brownish (female) |
| Call | Soft, piping peu | Sharp pink |
| Feeds | In trees and bushes; buds and seeds | Mostly on the ground |
| UK territories (2016) | 265,000 | 5.1 million |
| UK status | Amber | Green |
Males
Both males have pink underparts. The male Bullfinch is a plumper bird with a black cap and chin, a smooth grey back, a deep, even pink breast, black wings with one broad pale bar, and a short, stubby black bill. The male Chaffinch has a blue-grey cap, a pinkish-chestnut face and breast, a chestnut back, a bold white shoulder patch and a pointed blue-grey bill.
Females
A female Bullfinch keeps the black cap and white rump, with a grey-brown back and light grey-brown underparts. A female Chaffinch has no cap: she is plain olive-brown above and buff-grey below, with the same white shoulder patch and wing bar as the male. More: female Chaffinches.
Young birds
This is where it gets tricky. A young Bullfinch has no black cap, just a brown head, but it still has the white rump.1 A young Chaffinch looks like a dull female, with a pale patch on the back of the neck and the Chaffinch's white shoulder patch.
Calls and song
A Bullfinch is quiet: its call is a soft, piping, falling peu, and its quiet song is made of similar notes, sung by both sexes. A Chaffinch is loud: a sharp pink call and, from March to mid-July, the male's rattling song that ends in a flourish.
Where and how they feed
Bullfinches feed mostly in trees and bushes, on seeds, buds, shoots and berries, and in spring they nip off the buds of fruit trees. They come to the ground only now and then, but the BTO says they can often be seen at garden feeders.3 Chaffinches feed on the ground for much of the year, so in the garden you are more likely to see one under the feeder.
Size
Which is more common?
The Chaffinch, by far. There were about 5.1 million Chaffinch territories in the UK in 2016, against about 265,000 for the Bullfinch.4, 3 Both have declined. The Bullfinch is Amber-listed after a 55% fall since 1967; the Chaffinch is still Green-listed, but has fallen 26% over the same period, mostly since about 2010.
Bullfinch
Pyrrhula pyrrhula
The Bullfinch is a plump, quiet finch of hedges, woodland edges and gardens. The male has a deep pink breast, a black cap and a grey back; the female has the same black cap on a grey-brown body; and b
Chaffinch
Fringilla coelebs
The Chaffinch is one of the commonest birds in Britain and Ireland, found in gardens, parks, woods and hedgerows all year. Both sexes show bold white wing bars; the male adds a blue-grey cap and a pin
Sources
- Clement, P., Christie, D. A. (2020). Eurasian Bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula), version 1.0. Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo et al., editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology. doi:10.2173/bow.eurbul.01
- Clement, P., Kirwan, G. M., Goodman, D. D., Pyle, P., Hansasuta, C. (2026). Common Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs), version 1.3. Birds of the World (R. Ahmed, B. K. Keeney, N. D. Sly and S. M. Billerman, editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology. doi:10.2173/bow.comcha.01.3
- BTO. Bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula). BTO BirdFacts. Accessed 6 October 2026. Source
- BTO. Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs). BTO BirdFacts. Accessed 6 October 2026. Source
- RSPB. Chaffinch. RSPB Birds A-Z. Accessed 6 October 2026. Source
