Checking in on the House Finch

A corpodacus mexicanus recently visited my sunflower seed feeder.

Or, if you aren’t up on your Latin, a house finch.

A sparrow-sized bird with light brown and redwine colored feathers, this species ranges from the Pacific Coast eastward to Nebraska and Texas and south through Mexico. It has a sturdy, seed-eating bill and is not given to long migrations, preferring to stay in one area year-round, mostly in the arid western part of the state.

However, more recently, it has been moving east and reached the Houston-Galveston area in the winter of 1990-91.

Red finches come in three varieties – house, purple and Cassin’s. The adult male house finch has a notched tail and is rosy red around the face and upper breast, with a streaky brown back, belly and tail. Females are brown overall, with blurry streaks down the belly.

At one time, cage-bird dealers sold house finches for pets and billed them as “Hollywood finches,” touting their cheery songs and reddish plumage. The dealers were especially active in New York and released several birds there in the 1940’s which went on to expand their range all down the east coast.

The house finch is a winter visitor in our area and while here, it will subsist on a steady diet of seeds, fruits and buds. It eats very few insects and will even feed seeds to its babies, rather than insects and worms like most other birds.