01.25.26: Finch and food

‍I see a lot of House Finches in our area of Ohio, like this female House Finch perched among berries in Sharon Woods Metro Park north of Columbus. But I didn’t know the birds aren’t native to this area until I was doing some research in preparation for writing about a photo of a House Finch I posted a few years ago.

‍The House Finch is native to the western United States and Mexico, according to my favorite source for bird information, All About Birds. Someone attempted to sell House Finches in the northeast United States as cage birds, calling them “Hollywood finches,” but when that effort failed a small number were turned loose on Long Island, N.Y., in 1940. Within no time the birds spread across the eastern U.S. and southern Canada, with an estimated population in North America of between 267 million and 1.4 billion.

‍Male House Finches have rosy red faces, chests and rumps. When I see one in flight, the red is so conspicuous that my first reaction is “cardinal” until I get a better look. Females, like the one in the photo, are less eye-catching, with grayish-brown feathers without a trace of red.

‍According to All About Birds, "The red of a male House Finch comes from pigments contained in its food during molt (birds can’t make bright red or yellow colors directly). So the more pigment in the food, the redder the male. This is why people sometimes see orange or yellowish male House Finches. Females prefer to mate with the reddest male they can find, perhaps raising the chances they get a capable mate who can do his part in feeding the nestlings.”

‍This House Finch was among several feasting on berries in a stand of trees on a summer morning.