photo by Jeff Larsen
As I write this, I am being serenaded by the bubbly song of a House Finch just outside my window. You might be hearing this song too. House Finches are currently among the most prolific singers. These cheerful, colorful birds that frequent our yards and feeders have an interesting story.
Although relatively small in stature, these finches have sizeable beaks which enable them to eat their favorite foods: seeds, buds and fruits. Native to the Western United States and Mexico, House Finches are typically found not only at feeders, residential yards and city parks, but also where they came from: deserts, grasslands, the chaparral and open forests.
House Finches are super abundant. According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology there are now at least 267 million House Finches, distributed through most of North America and Mexico, except for a north-south band running through the Great Plains States.
We often hear the story of birds like the European Starling and House Sparrow that were introduced from Europe to the Eastern U.S. and later spread to the West. House finches, on the other hand, were introduced from the Western to the Eastern U.S.
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology Bird Biology Handbook chronicles this event: “In the early 1940’s…House Finches from a sedentary population in California were released on Long Island, New York. The introduction was wildly successful, and House Finches have become one of the most abundant birds in urban and suburban areas of the northeastern United States.”
