House Finches!

A male House Finch showing off his beautiful red color in the winter garden

House Finches are wonderful to have in your yard and garden. The males show pretty reddish colors on their head and chests. Both males and females have brownish stripes on their bodies.

The males have a beautiful song that they sing throughout the year, but mostly in the spring and summer.

These birds have recently moved from the Western U.S. to the Eastern U.S. and are now common in rural to urban areas.

House Finches eat mostly seeds and fruits, and are one of the few bird species that feeds its young seeds and other plant material -- no bugs!

House Finches on a tube feeder eating black-oiler sunflower seeds

An interesting fact about House Finches is that the red color of the male depends on the food it eats! Some foods make the colors redder and some make it more a lighter color, from pink to orange! That's why there's so much color variation in these birds.

The female House Finch is primarily brownish color with brown stripes on its head and chest.

A female House Finch

Purple Finches are closely related to House Finches but have less stripes on the males. It's hard to tell these apart sometimes.

House Finches are very social birds and are almost always seen in flocks. They'll nest repeatedly throughout the summer - in some places up to 6 broods a season!

If you're fortunate to have these pretty birds in your garden, be sure to keep your feeders clean -- especially the tube feeders. These may spread an eye disease that are affecting House Finches. We actually take down the tube feeders in the summer to protect our House Finches.

To attract these birds to your yard and garden, use black-oil sunflower and thistle seeds in feeders. Since they love fruits, be sure to plant fruit-bearing shrubs like Aronia, Juneberry, Viburnum and Winterberry. These provide food, shelter and nesting spots for House Finches and other birds. And be sure to provide water. Sometimes water attracts more birds than anything else -- especially in the winter.

Learn more about House Finches and hear their lovely song at Cornell University's All about Birds Web site.