linnet

House Finch
Male in Wisconsin, USA
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Suborder:	Passeri
Parvorder:	Passerida
Family:	Fringillidae
Subfamily:	Carduelinae
Genus:	Carpodacus
Species:	C. mexicanus
Binomial name
Carpodacus mexicanus (Müller, 1776)
Synonyms
Burrica mexicana

The House Finch (Carpodacus mexicanus) is a bird in the finch family Fringillidae. This species and the other "American rosefinches" are usually placed in the rosefinch genus Carpodacus. It has been proposed to place them in a distinct genus Burrica, but the American Ornithologists Union rejected a proposal to do so in 2008.^[2]

Description

Adults have a long, square-tipped brown tail and are a brown or dull-brown color across the back with some shading into deep gray on the wing feathers. Breast and belly feathers may be streaked; the flanks usually are. In most cases, adult males' heads, necks and shoulders are reddish.^[3][4] This color sometimes extends to the stomach and down the back, between the wings. Male coloration varies in intensity with the seasons and is derived from the berries and fruits in its diet.^[5][6] As a result, the colors range from pale straw-yellow through bright orange (both rare) to deep, intense red. Adult females have brown upperparts and streaked underparts.

Their song is a rapid, cheery warble or a variety of chirps.^[7]

Range and habitat

Adult female

These birds are mainly permanent residents; some eastern birds migrate south.^[8] Their breeding habitat is urban and suburban areas in the East as well as various semi-open areas in the West from southern Canada to northern Florida^[6] and the Mexican state of Oaxaca; the population in central Chiapas may be descended from escaped cagebirds.^[4]

Originally only a resident of Mexico and the southwestern United States, they were introduced to eastern North America in the 1940s. The birds were sold illegally in New York City^[6] as "Hollywood Finches", a marketing artifice.^[5] To avoid prosecution under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, vendors and owners released the birds. They have become naturalized; in some unforested areas, they have displaced the native Purple Finch and non-native House Sparrow.^[9] In 1870, or before, they were introduced into Hawaii.^[10]

Feeding

House Finches forage on the ground or in vegetation normally. They primarily eat grains, seeds and berries, being voracious consumers of weed seeds such as nettle and dandelion; included are incidental small insects such as aphids. They are frequent visitors to bird feeders throughout the year, particularly if stocked with sunflower or nyjer seed, and will congregate at hanging nyjer sock feeders. The House Finch is known to damage orchard fruit and consume commercially grown grain, but is generally not considered a significant pest, rather an annoyance.^[11]

Breeding

A House Finch nest and eggs

Nests are made in cavities, including openings in buildings, hanging plants, and other cup shaped outdoor decorations. Sometimes nests abandoned by other birds are used. Nests may be re-used for subsequent broods or in following years. The nest is built by the female, sometimes in as little as two days.^[12] It is well made of twigs and debris, forming a cup shape, usually 1.8 to 2.7 m (5.9 to 8.9 ft) above the ground.^[12]

During courtship, the male will touch bills with the female. He may then present the female with choice bits of food and, if she imitates the posture of a hungry chick, actually feed her. The male also feeds the female during the breeding and incubation of both eggs and young.^[13]

The female lays clutches of eggs from February through August, two or more broods per year with 2 to 6 eggs per brood, most commonly 4 or 5. The actual egg laying usually takes place in the morning, at the rate of one egg per day.^[13] The eggs are a pale bluish green with few black spots and a smooth, somewhat glossy surface. In response to mite infestation the mother finch may lay one gender of egg first, which increases the chances of the young finches survival.^[14] The female incubates the eggs for 12 to 14 days. Shortly after hatching, she removes the empty eggshells from the nest.^[15][16] The young are pink with closed eyes and tufts of fluffy down at hatching.^[17] The female always feeds the young, and the male usually joins in.^[13] The young are silent for the first seven or eight days, and subsequently start peeping during feedings.^[12] Initially, the mother carries fecal sacs out of the nest, but when the young become older, she no longer carries away all fecal sacs, allowing droppings to accumulate around the edge of the nest.^[12] Before flying, the young often climb into adjacent plants, and usually fledge at about 11 to 19 days after hatching.^[12] Dandelion seeds are among the preferred seeds fed to the young.^[15]

House Finches are aggressive enough to drive other birds away from places such as feeders.^[18]

Parasites

The house finch may be infected by a number of parasites including Plasmodium relictum^[19] and Mycoplasma gallisepticum, which caused the population of house finches in eastern North America to crash during the 1990s.^[20]

The mite Pellonyssus reedi is often found on house finch nestlings, particularly for nests later in the season.^[21]

The Brown-Headed Cowbird, a brood parasite, will lay its eggs in house finch nests, although the diet house finches feed their young is inadequate for the young cowbirds, which rarely survive.^[22]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: House Finch

• Florida's Introduced Birds: House Finch ("Carpodacus mexicanus") - University of Florida fact sheet
• Comprehensive information with sound files at the US Geological Survey site
• House Finch videos, photos & sounds on the Internet Bird Collection
• South Dakota Birds - House Finch Information and Photos
• House Finch Bird Sound