Finches
are some of the most common and most beloved birds to attract to
a feeder. There is a great variety of finches that can be found in
North America, a few of which are: Black Rosy Finch, Brown-capped Rosy
Finch, Cassin's Finch, Gray-crowned rosy Finch, House Finch, Purple Finch,
Rosy Finch, American Goldfinch, Lawrence's Goldfinch, and the Lesser Goldfinch.
Since there are 16 species of finch that are breeding in North America,
I will only mention the more common ones here. Not all of these will
be native to your area, but you can attract the finches in your area with
the same method since all eat seeds.
Since there are so many finches, I will give a little bio on the
more common types of finches..
Purple Finch
The purple finch is common in the eastern half of the United States, the southern provinces of Canada, and along the west coast states (Oregon, California, and Washington). Much of their range is the same as two close relatives, the House Finch and Cassin's Finch, making identification difficult. The purple finch is 5 1/2 to 6 1/2 inches long, and has a streaked and notched tail. The male has a read head, back, rump, and breast, while the female is brown and heavily streaked below; eyebrow, cheeks, and whisker mark whitish.
The key
to sorting out these finches is not an easy task. So don't fret if
you need a field guide to help learn to distinquish them from each other.
Cassin's Finch
Cassin's
Finch is very similar to the purple finch. Cassin's finch is 5 1/2
to 6 1/2 inches long. A male Cassin's finch is similiar to a male
purple finch, but browner back contrasts with the red crown. The
female Cassin's finch lacks the distinct face markings of the female purple
finch.
House Finch
The house finch is 5 to 5 1/2 inches longs. The male is streaked
and sparrowlike; eyebrow, forehead, and breast are a rose-red, and the
flanks are finely streaked. The female is brown streaked overall
with no red. House finches were originally residents of the western
states, but back in 1941 people in New York City began seeing house finches.
During that year, it was discovered that there were house finches for sale
in a pet shop under the name "Hollywood Finches", and because they, like
all other birds, are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty, the Audubon
Society was alerted. When they started making inquiries to local
pet shops, it was discovered that they all were offering "Hollywood Finches"
for sale. The transport of these birds was immediately banned, but
not before thousands were sent to the east coast. One proprietor
apparently got very nervous, and released his stock of house finches into
the wild. Consequently, the birds became very prolific and now generations
later, they are abundant on the east coast as well, and are now spreading
westward. At the last estimate, the western and eastern house finch
range was only seperated by 100 miles.
American Goldfinch
The American Goldfinch is native from coast to coast, southern Canada,
and into Mexico. The American Goldfinch is 4 to 5 inches long.
The breeding male is mainly bright yellow, with a black forehead, wings,
and tail. The female and winter birds are duller and greyer in color,
but have black wings and tail. They often travel in flocks.
Lesser Goldfinch
The Lesser Goldfinch is 4 to 4 1/2 inchs long. Small underparts
yellow, wings black with white patch. The male has a black crown
and back. The female is greenish on the head and back.
Lawrence's Goldfinch
This finch, unlike the others, has a fairly restricted range, living
mainly in parts of California, Arizona, and extreme southwestern New Mexico.
Lawrence's goldfinch is 4 to 4 1/2 inches long. Mostly gray, with
two yellow wing bars. The male has a black face and chin, and a yellow
breat. The female lacks the black face and has less yellow on it's
breast.
The Rosy Finches
The
Rosy Finch is native to the Rocky Mountains area extending from Colorado
to Alaska. The Rosy Finch is 5 1/2 to 6 1/2 inches long. The
Black Rosy Finch male has a black forehead, throat, and back, with
gray on the rear of the head, a pink belly, undertail, rump, and wing feathers;
the female is somewhat duller in color. The Gray Crowned Rosy Finch
male has a black forehead and throat, brown breast and back, pink
belly, undertail, rump and wing feather; with the female somewhat duller
in color. The Brown Capped Rosy Finch has a black forehead, brown
head, breast, and back, pink belly, undertail, rump, and wing feathers;
with the female somewhat duller in color. So as you can see,
it would be easy to confuse these three types of Rosy Finches.
What finches like to eat!
There are many things that will attract finches to your yard.
Finches love to dine on on:
- Mulberries
- Blackberries
- Cherries
- Cotoneaster
- Weed seeds, especially dandilion
- Zinnias
- Sunflowers of all types
- Coreopsis
- Nigger seed
- Millet
- Sunflower seeds
- Cosmos
- Bachelor's Buttons
- Love-lies-bleeding
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