Bird name:

House Finch

Carpodacus mexicanus

Order

PASSERIFORMES

Family

Finches (Fringillidae)

Code 4

HOFI

Code 6

CARMEX

ITIS

179191

Breeding Location:

Grassland with scattered trees, Mountains, Scrub vegetation areas

Breeding Type:

Monogamous, Solitary nester

Breeding Population:

Abundant

Egg Color:

Blue with lavender and black spots at large end

Number of Eggs:

2 - 6

Incubation Days:

12 - 14

Egg Incubator:

Female

Nest Material:

Twigs, grass, leaves, rootlets, bits of debris, and feathers.

Migration:

Some migrate

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General

House Finch: Medium-sized finch with brown-streaked back and wings, and brown-streaked white underparts. Head, throat, and rump are pink-red. Tail is relatively long and weakly notched. Bill is short and slightly decurved. Female and juvenile are brown with gray streaking overall. All plumages may show yellow wash on head, back, and breast; in adult males, yellow wash sometimes completely replaces red.

Range and Habitat

House Finch: Resident throughout the west, from southern Canada to southern Mexico, and east to Nebraska. Introduced to eastern North America, where it is now widespread in cities and residential areas. In the west, preferred habitats include chaparral, deserts, orchards, and suburban areas.

Breeding and Nesting

House Finch: Two to six blue eggs with lavender and black spots at large end are laid in a tightly woven, compact nest set in a bush, thicket, natural cavity, or on a building. Nest is built by the female and is made of twigs, grass, leaves, rootlets, bits of debris, and feathers. Incubation ranges from 12 to 14 days and is carried out by the female.

Foraging and Feeding

House Finch: Eats mostly seeds, including those from thistle, dandelion, sunflower, and mistletoe, but also buds and fruits; forages on the ground.

Readily Eats

Safflower, Apple Slices, Suet, Millet, Peanut Kernels, Fruit, Commercial Mixed Bird Seed

Vocalization

House Finch: Song is an extensive series of warbling notes ending in "zeee", canary-like but without the musical trills and rolls.

Similar Species

House Finch: Cassin's and Purple finches have streaks on breasts, shorter, notched tails, and different calls. Other female finches have streaked faces and shorter, notched tails.

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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

Underparts

Belly, undertail coverts, chest, flanks, and foreneck.

Rump

The area between the uppertail coverts and the back of the bird.

4 and 6 letter alpha codes

The four letter common name alpha code is is derived from the first two letters of the common first name and the first two letters of common last name. The six letter species name alpha code is derived from the first three letters of the scientific name (genus) and the first three letters of the scientific name (species). See (1) below for the rules used to create the codes..

Four-letter (for English common names) and six-letter (for scientific names) species alpha codes were developed by Pyle and DeSante (2003, North American Bird-Bander 28:64-79) to reflect A.O.U. taxonomy and nomenclature (A.O.U. 1998) as modified by Supplements 42 (Auk 117:847-858, 2000) and 43 (Auk 119:897-906, 2002). The list has been updated by Pyle and DeSante to reflect changes reported by the A.O.U from 2003 through 2006.

Field Guide to Birds of North America