October 22, 2011 / Leslie

Weekend Birding: House Finch

The House Finch is a cheerful little bird that is common across most of the United States. They are social birds and can often be found in groups in urban areas, parks and backyards.

In addition to trees they will nest on or in buildings, vents, ledges, planters and bird houses. They’re easy to attract to backyards and are one of the first birds to check out a new feeder. I enjoy their cheerful song and keep a feeder filled with safflower seeds, which seems to be their favorite. They also like black oil sunflower seeds.

The females are a plain grayish-brown with thick, blurry streaks. The males are rosy red around the face and upper breast, with streaky brown back, belly and tail. Both of these photos were taken in my backyard where the finches are frequent guests at the feeders and bird baths. Here they are stopping for a drink.

Interesting Facts

The red coloring of the male comes from pigments in the berries and fruits eaten during molting.
Females prefer to mate with the reddest male they can attract.
House finches are vegetarians. Unlike most other seed eating birds, finches do not switch to an insect diet during the summer nesting season.
They can drink up to 40% of their body weight on a hot summer day.
The House Finch is native to the south western United States and Mexico. In the 1940s they were illegally captured and transported to New York and sold as cage birds. To avoid prosecution, owners and vendors released the birds into the wild. They successfully began breeding and soon spread out across most of the eastern US and southern Canada.

I link up my bird photos on Saturday Snapshot hosted by Alyce at At Home With Books. Visit her blog to see more great photos or add your own.