House Finch

The House Finch loves living around homes. Living in Christmas and other wreaths, hanging plants, and under house eaves are the type of places they thrive and nest. So wreaths, liking conifers and the red head, breast and rump of the male make this Finch a perfect December bird of the month.

 

House Finches love black-oiled sunflower seeds. If they find your feeder,
you can expect a flock of up to 50, including red males and the rather plain females.

If they discover your feeder, House Finches love black-oiled sunflower seeds. If they come in a large flock, you likely will have fledglings and other House Finches visiting your feeder next summer. True vegetarians, House Finches eat seeds, plants, berries and fruit.

 

Male House Finch with red coloration.

The young male above is taking on his red coloration. Diet determines how red the males become and males can be an orangy yellow. (see below). Females prefer the redder males likely seeing them as "good seed providers."

Male House Finch with the more unusual orangey yellow coloration.

 

I thought I had a radical clan of House Finches as they had chased out the very aggressive House Sparrows. However, according to Cornell University's All About Birds website, House Finches, though about an inch smaller, will chase House Sparrows away. I had such an aggressive female with a brood, that she actually bit a squirrel who tried to horn in on the feeder.

 

Female House Finch

The females can be hard to differentiate from Purple Finches, Cassin Finches and even House Sparrows when you have many types of birds in the garden.

If you’ve had a House Finch take up in a wreath on your door, move the wreath to a new location under cover if the bird flying out startles you. However, House Finches are unusual in that they, unlike other birds, don't mind their nests being disturbed.

House Finches, likely because of backyard feeders, have become more dispersed in smaller flocks than once believed. If you wish to encourage nesting, Cornell Labs has full instructions for a simple nesting box I plan to build . . . because it's so simple.

Happy birding and bird watching in the new year. For some family fun with the kids and/or grandkids get involved with Project Feeder Watch. You don't have to be an expert. All you need is an interest in birds to enjoy this activity. Visit Project Feeder Watch to learn more.

Photos copyrighted by Quail Valley resident and international birder Margaret Sloan. View her international and national bird pictures by pressing this link.

See a bird you don't recognize in Fort Bend? Margaret has photographed 130+ bird species just in her suburban backyard alone. Narrow your initial search by viewing her full photo album of local birds, Birds of Quail Valley by pressing this link. They are organized by types of birds, so if it's a water bird for example, you may find one that helps you narrow your search. Then if you "google in" the name of the bird, you'll get info and all kinds of information and images. Sometimes if a species is remarkably different from adult you may find nothing, contact us and we'll do our best to help.

Researched and posted by Janice Scanlan