Finches

North America has over 20 varieties of Finches. House Finches, Purple Finches, Cassin’s Finches, Rosy Finches, American Gold Finches, Lesser Gold Finches, and Zebra Finches are some of the most commonly known species of finches you may see in your backyard. Beautiful in color and strong in song these birds are definitely entertaining. Social birds, Finches belong to the fringillidae s family, and maintain a life span of between 5 to 10 years; however some have been known to live much longer.

Fond of berries and nectar finches also enjoy dandelion, holly hock, zinnias, coreopsis, lettuce and Swiss chard. Finches are predominately seed eaters. Finches especially, enjoy thistle seed and nyger seed. Millet, safflower and sunflower also appeal to many finches and wild finch blends are available at many feed stores. When attracting finches, place a finch feeder away from other birdfeeders and birdhouses by at least 10 feet, as like many wild birds’ finches are territorial. Along with a birdfeeder, if you wish to attract finches to your yard consider the purchase of a birdbath. Finches are attracted to the fun and frolic that a birdbath provides.

Finches are commonly found to inhabit grasslands, well-wooded areas, in the mountains and deserts. Depending on the species you might see a finch most anywhere. Nests can be found in wooded areas and brushy areas and are basket-shaped. Many finches will nest in manmade nest boxes or birdhouses. Such a birdhouse dimensions measure 5” X 5” to 6” X 6” and 6 inches in height. The hole should measure 1 ½ to 2 inches. When installing birdhouses, or nest boxes for finches, install squirrel guards on bird poles, as well.

Though finches are winter birds, finches will migrate to more southerly territories during extreme winter conditions. Birds normally found in Maine, and New Hampshire will migrate to areas of southern New York if winter proves to be extremely cold. Some finches, like the purple finch will head to Texas and Florida during the winter.

The golden finch is the state bird of New Jersey, Iowa and Washington. Spring males are golden yellow with shiny black and a bit of white. Females and winter birds are duller, but are recognizable by their conical bill. The goldfinch’s natural habitat is weedy fields and flood plains. They can also be found in cultivated areas, orchards and backyards. American golden finches can be found in backyards anytime during the year, but most predominately they can be found at feeders in the winter time.

The male house finch has a length of about 5 1/2 inches, with red on the head, upper breast and flanks. In some regions the color red may be replaced with yellow or orange. This is due to the differences in regional diets. Found 5 to 7 feet above ground, the nest, made by the female, is cup shaped made of twigs, grasses and leaves. The female house finch then lays 2 to 5 bluish speckled eggs, which she incubates for 12 to 14 days, During incubation the female finch does not leave the nest for 11 to 19 days. Once the nestlings hatch, the females regurgitate food to her brood. Even after the baby birds have fledged the parents continue to feed them.
The male purple finch is approximately, 6 inches in length with a raspberry or wine colored upper body. The female has a well defined pattern on her face with a broad white eyebrow and a brown eye line. She also has white cheeks. During mating season the male will court the female dancing for her. With chest puffed out and tail cocked the male will hop up to 12 inches in the air just to get the female purple finches attention. The female will select the nesting sit and build her cups-shaped nest of moss, fur, horsehair, grasses, twigs and rootlets before she lays 3 to 6 bluish green eggs with dark specks. The nest is tucked away, high in the crotch of usually a conifer tree, about 50 or 60 feet above the ground. The eggs will incubate in approximately 2 weeks, and the young will leave the nest about 2 weeks later.