Spinach is another one to add to the list along with herbs such as parsley in smaller amounts. These leafy greens are readily available in supermarkets due to their place as a human superfood and this makes them easy to obtain, fresh and very nutritious. If they could speak, I’m sure that my finches would vote kale as their favourite vegetable. There are a few to avoid but most are fine. All those nutrients in them are helpful for a whole range of reasons and provide crucial elements that their bodies need to be healthy. Vegetables are beneficial for finches in a similar way to humans. Let’s take a look at what fresh foods finches can eat and how to feed it to them. What can they eat and what should they avoid? With finches, they are primarily seed eaters but they also benefit from eating different types of fresh foods. ![]() Project Feederwatch participants are asked to look for symptoms of this disease in House Finches at their feeders and include this information in their regular reports on their feeder birds.When it comes to keeping any type of bird, the first thing you need to understand is their diet. The species is threatened by the spread of Mycoplasmal Conjunctivitis, an eye infection characterized by swelling and a watery discharge leading to mortality in some birds as the disease spreads to their internal organs. House Finch populations are abundant and except for some local subspecies, there is little need for conservation efforts. In the Southwest it will eat desert fruits from saquaros and fishhook cacti, and flowers of ocotillo and creosote. Chicks are fed mostly weed seeds from sunflower, milk thistle, burweed and poison oak (Badyaev, et al). ![]() Western House Finches eat a wide variety of seeds from Napa thistle, black and wild mustards, knotweed, amaranth, and about 20 other plant species. Specifically, the color depends on the diet eaten during their annual molt when new feathers are growing. The red coloration of the House Finch depends on the carotenoids in the bird’s diet and can vary from a deep red to yellow. The Purple and Cassin’s Finches have straight bills and forked tails. It has a curved upper bill (culmen), a longer, rounded tail with longer primary projection (the distance between the end of the wing and tip of the tail). The House Finch is one of three Haemorhous (formerly Carpodacus) finches including the Purple Finch and Cassin’s Finch which can be challenging to identify. House Finches can have up to three broods per year (Kaufman). Incubation lasts about two weeks and the young fledge in another two weeks. Usually 4-5 pale blue eggs are deposited. The female House Finch builds an open cup nest in a variety of sites such as in conifers, in ivy on buildings, in cavities in cactus or human-made structures, and sometimes in hanging planters. They will feed their young regurgitated seeds and sometimes aphids. Their jaw has a specialized groove at the side in which the bird guides seeds so the shells can be crunched and the hulled seed eaten. ![]() They will feed on the ground or hang onto weeds and eat the seeds from them. The House Finch is almost exclusively a seed eater and its spread has undoubtedly been aided by humans putting out bird feeders. The accompanying map shows how quickly and extensively the House Finch has expanded its range. These eastern House Finches have spread westward and today now overlap the western birds. In 1939 pet shop owners who had illegally captured House Finches in Santa Barbara, CA released them on Long Island, NY to avoid prosecution (Kaufman). It has expanded its range to cover almost the entire continent of North America. It evolved over 500,000 years as a bird of the semi-arid Southwest where it remains common. The House Finch is one of the most abundant birds in North America and it has shown a remarkable adaptability to a variety of habitats. Scientific Name: Haemorhous mexicanus Length 5.7 in Wingspan 10 in Weight 0.74 oz AOU Band code HOFI
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