House Finches
Birds of the Month - July 2008
Those Year-round Red Heads
No matter were you live, if you have your feeders filled with WBU No-Mess Blend, Sunflower or Nyjer® seed, the chances are good that one of the red finches of winter is probably a regular visitor to your yard.
The odds are best for a visit by the ubiquitous House Finch. Once restricted to the West, this talented songster became firmly established throughout all of eastern North America upon the release of a few captives on New York’s Long Island in 1940.
While it is a year-round resident throughout most of its range, the eastern population, unlike its western counterparts, has developed a seasonal migration pattern. As a result, southern states will often see a large winter influx of the drab females, while the north enjoys the more colorful “stay close to home” males.
House Finches are always exciting visitors to your feeders. These finches have the most vegetarian diet of any group of North American birds. Unlike other seed eating birds, they do not rely on insects during the summer nesting season and continue to eat seeds all year-round.
Due in part to their diet, they are a natural to attract to your seed feeders, but keep in mind that they are all perching birds and not clinging birds like the American Goldfinch. They will readily come to a WBU Seed Tube filled with WBU No-Mess Blend, Sunflower or Nyjer seed.