It is always so neat
to see how different individual birds of a species can look. With House Finches, the color and vibrancy of the males depends on what they eat. We have Mulberries and other red berries as well as Mountain Ash around here, and it feels like you can tell from these two. One has orange undertones and a more subdued red, while the other is mostly red and very vibrant. The stripes on the belly as well as the non-red wing bars are certain indicators that mark them as House Finches. Tomorrow is the last day of my calendar sale, make sure to get what you want in time.
Slim pickings still
this week but the Christmas deco is up and temps are going to go down soon. Here are some of the recent visitors. My calendars are all on sale this week, by the way - they are 15 % off and you can get them at the link on my home page and in my shop here.
Early spring and fall
can be exiting times here because migration may bring in surprises. That happened this week, when one of my favorites showed up, a Purple Finch. They can be hard to identify when you haven’t seen one yet - many birders mistake vibrant House Finches for them. I have learned to not trust the color and follow my instict. Usually you can tell right away that this is a different bird. One mark that is easy to see and check for is the streaks / stripes on the lower belly. The House finch has them, the Purple does not.
During this still
rather boring stretch of the year, the birds that do pass through or are regulars appear to be more skittish and camera shy than in previous years. But maybe I am just overly focused after having such little diversity and activity for the last few months. I did get the White-throated to come a little closer, and also got the young Cardi (I love his color transitions) along with a beautiful House Finch and a very pleased looking Chipmunk.
Some more spring portraits.
The weather has been nasty but things seem to take a turn for the milder now 🤞. I have seen Grosbeaks in the last two days, but no Oriole or hummer yet. In other exciting birder news, a rare Vermillion Flycatcher has been spotted in my area. I have not made the trip to seek him out but I have seen photos, and he's quite spectacular. Spring migration can be quite amazing, and I hope there will be some surprises in my yard as well.
It is not just
the big birds that are waking up after the winter, the smaller crowd is also singing their heads off and getting into snazzy summer outfits. I loved this very unusually colored House Finch, and the Goldfinches are just adorable with the unpredictable patterns in which their yellow feathers come in.
Extreme weather days
always make for some good birdwatching, and the feeders were buzzing at times yesterday despite the freezing rain. The light was murky, but this just kind of makes their colors pop. Here are some of the visitors. Top left to bottom right: American Goldfinch, Eastern Bluebird, Blue Jay, House Finch, Redbellied Woodpecker, Northern Cardinal.
When there is little activity,
even the simplest little things can become interesting. Like the funky colorings of House Finches. Their color is determined by what they eat, and we have all kinds of berries around, red but also orange. These two looked quite cool.
As you may have guessed,
things are still very slow. It is truly a bit depressing, but I cannot change the weather. Here is a House Finch couple from today. They are frequent visitors. I have always loved that particular shade of the lashes of the male and would love some company to make it into a nail polish. How fun could that be, a whole bird line? Come good into the weekend!
I hope
you all had a wonderful holiday weekend and no bad impact from the blizzard. It was nice and cosy here, with lots of good food. We did not get as much snow as anticipated but it looks very festive regardless. Bird-wise, there hasn’t really been anything surprising. There are lots of MoDos, some woodpeckers, Chickadees, Titmice, Nuthatches, Finches and Blue Jays. Everybody seems to be very competitive, understandable with these frigid temperatures.
Calendar birds - February and March
The birds for February and March in my calendar are an adorable House Finch on a frosty morning and a Redwinged Blackbird against a dramatic sky. I loved the light in both of these photos, it created a cool mood and made the birds stick out nicely. My calendars are available in four different formats with customizable spines in my shop here: https://tinyurl.com/wa8jmt44
House Finches
House Finches are one of the more "common" birds in most of the US (their history is rather fascinating, here is a good article about it), but even they can be confusing to birdwatchers, and that is mostly due to the variety of colors in the males. It can range from faint blushes of rose to vibrant reds with pink hues and even orange. Their color and vibrancy depends on their diet. The ones I see are usually reddish but yesterday, there was also an orange one. He looked especially cool in the gloomy light.
Because of the variety in color, sometimes people mistake House finches for Purple Finches. There are some features that can help to differentiate them. I made a chart last year to help with that, which I am posting below too.
It is very interesting
how different things are this November, compared to all the other years I have been here. Temperatures are more than mild, which I think is responsible for the relative quiet in the yard right now. Nature provides an abundance of food, there are still insects around too, so the birds seek feeders less. The Grackle and Redwinged Blackbird are still around too, and today I saw in a local birding group that someone had a Hummingbird on their feeder in Michigan. I am enjoying this mild weather but I really hope we will get some cold too. Anyways, here are some of the current residents, most of which are very busy taking nuts and seeds and hiding them for snowy days.
(Redbreasted Nuthatch, American Goldfinch, Blackcapped Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse and House Finch)
Birds are still migrating,
bringing occasional fun visitors, like Grackles and Redwinged Blackbirds. The House Finch almost got me with his head marks, I thought it might be a Purple. But the stripes on the belly are a true sign for House.
Speaking of Redwinged Blackbirds - today, the promo sale for the calendar ends. There will be another one or two farther down the road but I haven’t made my mind up when.
The end of the summer
is always bittersweet but when fall migration has started, the backyard becomes alive with flocks of travelers. Some are just stopping for a short break while others stay for a couple of days. This is the case with Baltimore Orioles right now. I have added an extra jelly feeder, and the cups need to be refilled several times a day now (I also clean the cups with each refill). It is always wonderful to see the full spectrum of color variations at display when indivisuals of various ages come together. And in between, the Robins, Woodpeckers and Finches (the one pictures has a very interesting molt going on) also get their share.
Happy Mother's Day!
It is a beautiful spring day here, and I hope you all get spoiled today. Thank you for all you do, you make this world a better place.
Happy Earth Day!
Nature is slowly waking up here, and I have started to do my daily walk around our perimenters to watch the budding progress on flowers, trees and bushes. Things are happening slower than last year, due to the recent cold snap, but spring is definitely here. The anticipation can sometimes lead to unrealistic expectations, and so I put out some orange halves for possible early arriving Orioles the other day. The House Finches were delighted, the Goldfinch not so much. I have my Hummingbird feeder out as well, and keep an eye on journeynorth.org to see when they are likely to arrive. We are trying to add more native plants to our garden every year, to make it into a bird paradise that benefits us humans too, and I cannot wait to dig in the dirt again.
Finches are so peaceful,
and Goldfinches even more so… Not. Hormones are raging in the backyard right now, and there are lots of colorful wing displays during the daily fight for territory, dominance and food. It’s gotta be stressful. As you can see, the Goldfinches are transitioning to their summer feathers, and they look adventurously patchy right now too. These tinies lead a stressful life!
Spring is in the air,
and there is no denying it, despite the frost, and the birds are starting to show up as couples. I saw Blue Jays gathering stuff, the Robins are becoming more defensive, the MoDos are snogging things up and the House Finches are getting romantic. So much to see, such nasty weather!
Purple? Red? House?
Male House Finches can come in many different shades of red or even yellow and orange, depending on their diet. Some even take on a vibrant color that might remind of raspberries. And if they do that, they often get confused with another bird that is high on the wishlist of many backyard birdwatchers - the Purple Finch. It is not a mythical creature, it is not the name for House finches with a raspberry hue, and it is around a lot less than House Finches. Once you know their differences, you will be able to more easily know what you got. I had the pleasure of having a Purple Finch visiting yesterday, so I made a little chart that might help learning some of their most obvious markers. The two single photos are both also the Purple. He stayed so long that a little snow accumulated on his head.
