Finchy ruckus in treetops! A still dull-yellow #AmericanGoldfinch bouncing about with "potato-chip" flight calls. Streaky pointy dark #PineSiskins interjecting a slurred vreeep! and teeny #LesserGoldfinches doing their sad-kitten fweee... A rosy male #HouseFinch singing an earnest chugging warble capped with a querulous "wheer?" like sarcastic meta-commentary. The siskins and goldfinches combine in a chaos of twittering song from which it's hard to pick out the individuals! #Birding#Oregon
This is too pretty to keep in a reply. Was standing by this lovely pink blossom tree that smelled simply divine and caught movement above me. A male house finch was perched near the top singing. Got a little video and a photo before he flew off.
I haven't seen any migrants at the feeders. The flock of American goldfinches in our yard sing all day. The males are molting into their summer feathers. The females are not as brightly colored, but I think this very pale goldfinch may be leucistic. The downy woodpeckers are chasing each other around the yard and the house finches are numerous and colorful. #birds#birding#birdsofmastodon#birdphotography#nature#HoosierMast#goldfinches#woodpecker#housefinch#leucism
I looked up in a tall tree at the edge of the forest this morning, and there were dozens of birds with red breast. They flew off but one or two remained. I wondered if they were house finches, but hey were too large. Turned out they were American robins. I'm slightly disappointed because I've never seen a whole flock of house finches. But here is a male house finch (Haemorhous mexicanus) I saw yesterday.
I was looking through some under exposed house finch photos that I took last spring and found the finch with some unusually colored head feathers. Perhaps it is a young male who hasn't achieved the reddish plumage around the head and chest yet or maybe it is the rarer yellow variant. I got a few photos of this bird; this one is the most interesting.
"The House Finch is a recent introduction from western into eastern North America (and Hawaii), but it has received a warmer reception than other arrivals like the European Starling and House Sparrow. That’s partly due to the cheerful red head and breast of males, and to the bird’s long, twittering song, which can now be heard in most of the neighborhoods of the continent. If you haven’t seen one recently, chances are you can find one at the next bird feeder you come across." - allaobutbirds.org
This house finch (Haemorhous mexicanus) was making a mess at the bird feeder.
"House Finches eat almost exclusively plant materials, including seeds, buds and fruits. Wild foods include wild mustard seeds, knotweed, thistle, mulberry, poison oak, cactus, and many other species. In orchards, House Finches eat cherries, apricots, peaches, pears, plums, strawberries, blackberries, and figs. At feeders they eat black oil sunflower over the larger, striped sunflower seeds, millet, and milo." - allaboutbirds.org
Yesterday, I posted a picture of a female red bellied woodpecker and two female house finches. Here's a phot of a male red bellied woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus) and a male house finch. As usual, the woodpecker is at the feeder to find a peanut. I've watched them for months, if there is a peanut in the mix, they will find it.
Here is a scene from this morning at one of my bird feeders. There is a female red bellied woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus) arriving at the feeder where she will dig through the seed for a peanut. Already at the feeder are two female house finches (Haemorhous mexicanus) who will leave while the woodpecker is at the feeder. Don't worry, the woodpecker only stays long enough to find a peanut then flies off to a nearby tree.
I've been referring to the neighbor's hens as “the girls”; maybe that would be more appropriate for the small flock of young house finches that have descended in my back yard?
(Yeah, this is my lawn. California. Brown is the New Green and all that.)
My brother noted that finches ground feed like cockatiels. 😄 For sure, I've never seen finches feed this way before, let alone a whole flock that was gorging themselves and ignoring a bird feeder that was just 10' away. By comparison the juncos, who are natural ground feeders, were doing their usual casual browsing and looked a lot less clumsy.
I think this is a house finch, in fact I'm pretty sure. But the head looks slightly different, so slight it fuels uncertainty. Also, Merlin Bird ID fails to identify the bird. I could just be that the photo quality isn't good enough.