![]() ![]() House Finches are almost strictly vegetarian feeders and approximately 97% of their diet is made up of vegetable matter including buds, seeds, and fruits.They can drink up to 40% of their body weight on a hot summer day. A water source can be a strong attractant for House Finches.House Finches are fond of nectar and can become a nuisance at hummingbird feeders, if they do, offer them a dish of nectar for their own use.Favorite roosting spots are used repeatedly. House Finches roost at night in close proximity to each other, sometimes huddling together for warmth. ![]() Known there as the papaya bird, after its favorite island food, males lack the red color of mainland birds as papaya has no red pigments. House Finches were introduced on the Hawaiian Islands sometime before 1870.Female house finches prefer to mate with the reddest males they can find.The more pigment present in the foods eaten when they are molting new feathers … the redder the male. The coloration comes from carotenoid pigments found in some wild foods. Male House Finches display a wide variety of plumage coloration ranging from gray to bright crimson.House Finch populations found in the east are rarely found far from urban or suburban areas, but in its native western range they may also be found in a wide variety of open or semi-open habitats including undisturbed deserts.Southern states often find a majority of brown females at their feeders, while northerners enjoy more of the colorful red males. In the East, female House Fiches migrate farther south than do the males.and Great Lakes regions migrate to the southern U.S. Many House Finches from the Northeast U.S. The eastern population of House Finches has developed a consistent annual and often long-range migration pattern, while the native western population is primarily residential, occasionally migrating only short distances.Since then the finches have spread to all corners of the east and have even rejoined their relatives in the west. Fearing prosecution, the dealers released their “Hollywood Finches” on Long Island in 1940. In 1940, they were illegally captured in California and imported to New York by pet dealers. The House Finch has not always been found in the eastern United States. ![]()
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