SusieHazCakes
Baby Finches on My Front Door - 2 of 4
Last spring about this time, I had a little wreath on the door and noticed one day that a couple of little House Finches had made a nest in the wreath. I guarded that nest with my life from March 25 until April 22, when the fledglings left the nest. One night there was a terrible storm with strong winds and I could hear the wreath banging on the door. I stood for about an hour with my arm out the door, fighting the wind and holding that wreath tightly against the door.
House Finches are native to southwestern United States and Mexico. In 1940 a small number of finches were turned loose on Long Island, New York, and they quickly started breeding. They spread across the entire eastern United States and southern Canada within the next 50 years.
The red or yellow color of a male House Finch comes from pigments that it gets in its food during molt. The more pigment in the food, the redder the male. Females prefer to mate with the reddest male they can find (of course!). Adults House Finches are about 5-6 inches (13-14 cm) long.
When nestling House Finches defecate, the feces are contained in a membranous sac. The parents eat the fecal sacs of the nestlings for about the first five days. Most songbird species carry the sacs away when they stop eating them, but House Finches do not remove them, and the sacs accumulate around the rim of the nest, as seen in photos 3 and 4.
Baby Finches on My Front Door - 2 of 4
Last spring about this time, I had a little wreath on the door and noticed one day that a couple of little House Finches had made a nest in the wreath. I guarded that nest with my life from March 25 until April 22, when the fledglings left the nest. One night there was a terrible storm with strong winds and I could hear the wreath banging on the door. I stood for about an hour with my arm out the door, fighting the wind and holding that wreath tightly against the door.
House Finches are native to southwestern United States and Mexico. In 1940 a small number of finches were turned loose on Long Island, New York, and they quickly started breeding. They spread across the entire eastern United States and southern Canada within the next 50 years.
The red or yellow color of a male House Finch comes from pigments that it gets in its food during molt. The more pigment in the food, the redder the male. Females prefer to mate with the reddest male they can find (of course!). Adults House Finches are about 5-6 inches (13-14 cm) long.
When nestling House Finches defecate, the feces are contained in a membranous sac. The parents eat the fecal sacs of the nestlings for about the first five days. Most songbird species carry the sacs away when they stop eating them, but House Finches do not remove them, and the sacs accumulate around the rim of the nest, as seen in photos 3 and 4.