The house finch.

I have had my bird feeder up for a couple of months now. They were set up a few years ago in my "bird garden," but neighbourhood cats discovered it was a perfect place to hide and wait. I have established it now in the center of my backyard; an open place where any cat will be easily seen. Not only by me, but by my dogs as well. They know the word "cat" very well and bark happily as they search for any kitties that might be within reach. Everyone is happy, well, maybe not the cats.

I shot this picture (above) a couple of days ago. There have been lots of chickadees, juncos, and siskins patronizing my bird feeders, but this was the first house finch I have seen since their reinstallment. I photographed it with my Nikon D500 and 500 mm PF prime lens. The image was seriously cropped; tomorrow's blog will be on the advantage of large megapixel counts and the ability to still obtain remarkably useful images from only a small portion of the original file.

House finches are year-round residents; they do not migrate. They are present throughout southern Canada and most of the continental United States ranging down into Mexico. They feed mostly on vegetative matter and are particularly fond of black sunflower seeds, the very kind I fill my feeders with. They will take seeds and fruit from many different plants and will also consume buds and other parts of plants when preferred foods are not available.

Most bird species are particular about where they build their nests; the house finch prefers to nest in the upper-most branches of large trees. They tend to frequent places inhabited by humans and will build nests on or in associated structures. According to whatbird.com, "The coloring of the male House Finch can range from deep red to golden yellow, depending on available diet during molting." The ones around here, as you can see, tend to be a deep reddish-orange colour. To see other variations on the species go to this website.

It is certain that I will continue to see this colourful and entertaining bird more often at my feeders.

Thanks for reading.     Ericspix     Eric Svendsen

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