House Finch

Carpodacus mexicanus

Order PASSERIFORMES - Family FRINGILLIDAE - Subfamily Carduelinae

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1. Cool Facts
2. Description
3. Similar Species
4. Sound
5. Range
6. Habitat
7. Food
8. Behavior
9. Reproduction
10. Conservation Status
11. Other Names

A bright red and brown-striped bird of the cities and suburbs, the House Finch comes readily to feeders. It also breeds in close association with people, and often chooses a hanging plant in which to put its nest.

Cool Facts

• The House Finch was originally a bird of the 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, perhaps assuring that they get a capable male who can find enough food to feed the nestlings.

• When nestling House Finches defecate, the feces are contained in a membranous sac, as in most birds. The parents eat the fecal sacs of the nestlings for about the first five days. In most songbird species, when the parents stop eating the sacs, they carry the sacs away and dispose of them. But House Finch parents do not remove them, and the sacs accumulate around the rim of the nest.

Description

• Size: 13-14 cm (5-6 in)
• Wingspan: 20-25 cm (8-10 in)
• Weight: 16-27 g (0.56-0.95 ounces)

• Medium-sized finch.
• Male bright red on head, chest, and rump; female brown and striped.
• Bill short and thick, with rounded top edge.
• Two thin white wingbars.

• Tail with square tip.
• Underparts streaked brown and white.
• Eyes black.
• Legs dark brown.

Sex Differences

Male red, female grayish brown with stripes.

Male

Crown, eyebrow stripe, throat, chest, and rump bright red to pale yellow. Flanks whitish with heavy brown stripes. Back, wings, and tail brown

Female

Grayish brown overall, with blurry streaks on chest and sides. Face all brown, with no eyestripe.

Immature

Juvenile similar to female, but with more fluffy feathers and more distinct wingbars.

Similar Species

• Purple Finch has bill more pointed, tail shorter and notched. Male Purple Finch darker red, with red on nape, back and flanks. Undertail coverts unstreaked. Female Purple Finch with obvious white eyestripe and malar stripe, broader streaks on white breast and flanks, and unstreaked undertail coverts.
• Cassin's Finch has more pointed bill, and tail is shorter and slightly notched. Male's flanks are reddish and lack brown streaking. Female Cassin's Finch with more pronounced facial pattern, distinct blackish streaks on chest and back, and streaked undertail coverts. For more discussion on distinguishing these three species, developed by Project FeederWatch, go here.
• Female House Sparrow has a streaked back, a bold eyestripe, and an unstreaked breast.
• Pine Siskin has a more pointed bill, heavily streaked upperparts, a deeply notched tail, and has yellow edging on the wings and tail.

Sound

Song a hoarse warble that goes up and down rapidly. Call note a sharp "cheep."

»listen to songs of this species

Range

Summer Range

Resident from southern Canada southward to northern Florida and southern Mexico.

Habitat

In the East, found almost exclusively in urban and suburban habitats, especially in areas with buildings, lawn, and small conifers. In West, found around people, but also in desert, chaparral, oak savanna, riparian areas, and open coniferous forests.

Food

Buds, seeds, and fruits.

Behavior

Foraging

Forages in small flocks, usually in trees, but often on ground. Uses feeders extensively.

Reproduction

Nest Type

Nest an open cup of fine grass stems, leaves, rootlets, thin twigs, string, wool, and feathers, lined with similar but finer material. Placed in tree cavities, birdboxes, building ledges.

Egg Description

Color: Pale blue with fine dark speckling, usually around larger end.

Size: 16.5-21.3 mm x 13.0-15.2 mm.
(0.65-0.84 in x 0.51-0.60 in)

Incubation period: 13-14 days.

Clutch Size

1-6 eggs.

Condition at Hatching

Helpless with sparse white down.
Chicks fledge in 16 days.

Conservation Status

Common and benefiting from human development. Eastern populations cut in half by eye disease in the last decade. To find out more about this disease and learn how you can help track it and its effects, go to the House Finch Disease Survey home page, or here for an article on the topic from Birdscope. You can help scientists learn more about this species by participating in the Celebrate Urban Birds! project.

Other Names

Roselin familiar (French)
Gorrión doméstico, Gorrión común, Gorrión mexicano (Spanish)

Sources used to construct this page:

Hill, G. E. 1993. House Finch (Carpodacus mexicanus). In The Birds of North America, No. 46 (A. Poole, and F. Gill, eds.). The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, PA, and The American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C.