HOUSE FINCH GALLERY
(Haemorhous mexicanus)

eBird offers this description of the House Finch:  Frequents suburban settings across North America, along with open woods, brushy field edges, and deserts. Males vary in shades and intensity of red. Some males are yellow or orange. Females are drab gray-brown overall with plain faces and blurry streaks on underparts. Similar to Purple and Cassin’s Finch, but House Finch males are more orangey-red with color equally bright on crown, throat, and breast. Red color is mostly restricted to head and upper chest, contrasting with cold gray-brown nape, back, and wings. Pale sides show distinct brown streaks, lacking red tones. Females lack bold face pattern and have more diffuse patterning overall. Often sings loudly in neighborhoods and visits feeders.

In the short time I have been bird watching, I have seen House Finches, both male and female, at a number of locations.  Each time I see them I am amazed at how colorful and interesting they are to watch!

Male House Finch at MBY feeder, May 27, 2020.
Female House Finch at my feeder, June 1, 2020.
Male House Finch high in a tree near the Guadalupe River Bridge in Gonzales, Texas, April 19, 2020.
Female House Finch, at the Old Barn in Warbler Woods, Cibolo, Texas, May 8, 2020.


“Cool Facts” About the House Finch From All About Birds…

  • The House Finch was originally a bird of the western United States and Mexico. In 1940 a small number of finches were turned loose on Long Island, New York, after failed attempts to sell them as cage birds (“Hollywood finches”). They quickly started breeding and spread across almost all of the eastern United States and southern Canada within the next 50 years.
  • House Finches were introduced to Oahu from San Francisco sometime before 1870. They had become abundant on all the major Hawaiian Islands by 1901.
  • 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.
  • House Finches feed their nestlings exclusively plant foods, a fairly rare occurrence in the bird world. Many birds that are vegetarians as adults still find animal foods to keep their fast-growing young supplied with protein.
  • The oldest known House Finch was a female, and at least 11 years, 7 months old when she was recaptured and rereleased during banding operations in New York in 1985, the same state where she had been banded in 1973.