house finch

The house finch is a moderate-sized finch, {{convert|12.5|to|15|cm|in|frac=4|abbr=on}} long, with a wingspan of {{convert|20|to|25|cm|in|frac=2|abbr=on}}. Body mass can vary from {{convert|16|to|27|g|oz|frac=16|abbr=on}}, with an average weight of {{convert|21|g|oz|frac=8|abbr=on}}. Among standard measurements, the wing chord is {{convert|7|to|8.4|cm|in|frac=8|abbr=on}}, the tail is {{convert|5.7|to|6.5|cm|in|frac=8|abbr=on}}, the culmen is {{convert|0.9|to|1.1|cm|in|frac=16|abbr=on}} and the tarsus is {{convert|1.6|to|1.8|cm|in|frac=16|abbr=on}}.{{Cite book|last1=Clement|first1=Peter|last2=Harris|first2=Alan|last3=Davis|first3=John|title = Finches and Sparrows: an Identification Guide|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=1993|location=Princeton, New Jersey|isbn= 978-0-691-03424-9}}

Adults have a long, square-tipped brown tail and are a brown or dull-brown color across the back with some shading into deep gray on the wing feathers. Breast and belly feathers may be streaked; the flanks usually are. In most cases, adult males' heads, necks and shoulders are reddish.{{cite book | last=Sibley|first=David | title=The Sibley Guide to Birds | publisher=Alfred A. Knopf | year=2000 | isbn=978-0-679-45122-8 | author-link=David Allen Sibley|title-link=The Sibley Guide to Birds }}{{cite book | first1=Steve N. G. | last1=Howell | first2=Sophie | last2=Webb | title=A Guide to the Birds of Mexico and Northern Central America | publisher=Oxford University Press | year=1995 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/guidetobirdsofme0000howe/page/757 757–758] | isbn=978-0-19-854012-0 | url=https://archive.org/details/guidetobirdsofme0000howe/page/757 }} This color sometimes extends to the belly and down the back, between the wings. Male coloration varies in intensity with the seasons{{cite web | author=Caldwell, Eldon R. | title=IV Birds – House Finch | url=http://www.imperial.edu/birds/h-finch.htm | access-date=April 19, 2008 | archive-date=September 29, 2007 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929000856/http://www.imperial.edu/birds/h-finch.htm | url-status=dead }} and is derived from the berries and fruits in its diet.{{cite web | work=All About Birds|title= House Finch | url=http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/House_Finch_dtl.html | publisher=Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology | access-date=April 19, 2008}} As a result, the colors range from pale straw-yellow through bright orange (both rare) to deep, intense red. Adult females have brown upperparts and streaked underparts.

The house finch's songs typically consist of a series of high-pitched musical jumbles ending with a distinct high note, wheer. Calls from flight include a soft cheet or wheat, with perched birds giving a more drawn-out version.{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/183926577 |title=National Geographic field guide to the birds of eastern North America |date=2008 |publisher=National Geographic |isbn=978-1-4262-0330-5 |editor-last=Dunn |editor-first=Jon L. |location=Washington, D.C. |oclc=183926577 |editor-last2=Alderfer |editor-first2=Jonathan K. |editor-last3=Lehman |editor-first3=Paul E.}}

File:Common House Finch on Branch.jpg|Adult male

File:House finch female.jpg|Adult female

File:Carpodacus mexicanus6.jpg| Yellow variant

House finches are mainly permanent residents throughout their range, some birds migrate to the south, with adult females moving longer distances than males.{{cite journal | last1=Belthoff | first1=James R. |last2= Gauthreaux |first2= Sidney A. | title=Partial Migration and Differential Winter Distribution of House Finches in the Eastern United States | journal=The Condor | volume=93 | issue=2 | year=1991 | url=http://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/condor/v093n02/p0374-p0382.pdf | doi=10.2307/1368953 | pages=374–382|jstor= 1368953 }} Their breeding habitat is urban and suburban areas across North America, as well as various semi-open areas in the west from southern Canada to the Mexican state of Oaxaca; the population in central Chiapas may be descended from escaped cagebirds. Analyses of nest records from house finches in California spanning more than a century found that egg‐laying occurred significantly earlier in warmer springs.{{Cite journal|last1=Watts|first1=Heather E.|last2=Jimenez|first2=Daniela|last3=Pacheco|first3=Veronica|last4=Vilgalys|first4=Tauras P.|date=2019|title=Temperature-correlated shifts in the timing of egg-laying in house finches Haemorhous mexicanus|journal=Ibis|language=en|volume=161|issue=2|pages=428–434|doi=10.1111/ibi.12676|issn=1474-919X|doi-access=}}

Originally only a resident of Mexico and the southwestern United States, house finches were introduced to eastern North America in the 1940s. The birds were sold illegally in New York City as "Hollywood finches", a marketing artifice. To avoid prosecution under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, vendors and owners released the birds. They have since become naturalized; in largely unforested land across the eastern U.S. they have displaced the native purple finch and even the non-native house sparrow.{{cite journal | last = Wootton | first = JT. | journal = Oecologia | volume = 71 | title = Interspecific Competition between Introduced House Finch Populations and Two Associated Passerine Species | pages= 325–331 | doi = 10.1007/BF00378703 | pmid = 28312977 | year = 1987 | issue = 3 | bibcode = 1987Oecol..71..325W | s2cid = 24504742 }} Sometime in the 19th century, they were introduced to Hawaiʻi and are now found on all its major islands except Niʻihau and Kahoʻolawe.{{cite journal | last=Caum | first=E.L. | title=The exotic birds of Hawaii | journal=Bishop Museum Occasional Papers |publisher=Bernice P. Bishop Museum | volume=10 | issue=9 | year=1933}}

According to the Partners in Flight database, there are estimated to be 40 million house finches across North America.{{Cite web |title=Population Estimates – Partners in Flight Databases |url=https://pif.birdconservancy.org/population-estimate-database-scores/ |access-date=2024-04-05 |language=en-US}}

Instances of naturalization originating in escapes or releases of cage birds have been recorded in Europe, such as in 2020 in Murcia, (Spain).{{Cite news|title=Alertan de la reproducción del ave exótica camachuelo mejicano en Murcia|url=https://www.efeverde.com/noticias/ave-exotica-camachuelo-murcia/|newspaper=EfeVerde|date=30 January 2020|lang=es}}

File:Carpodacus mexicanus map history1.svg|1958–1961

File:Carpodacus mexicanus map history2.svg|1968–1971

File:Carpodacus mexicanus map history3.svg|1978–1981

File:Carpodacus mexicanus map history4.svg|1988–1990

House finches forage on the ground or in vegetation normally. They primarily eat grains, seeds and berries, being voracious consumers of weed seeds such as nettle and dandelion;{{Cite web |title=House Finch {{!}} Audubon Field Guide |url=https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/house-finch |access-date=2024-04-20 |website=Audubon |language=en}} included are incidental small insects such as aphids. They are frequent visitors to bird feeders throughout the year, particularly if stocked with sunflower or nyjer seed, and will congregate at hanging nyjer sock feeders. The house finch is known to damage orchard fruit and consume commercially grown grain, but is generally considered an annoyance rather than a significant pest.{{cite web | url=http://fwp.mt.gov/fieldguide/detail_ABPBY04040.aspx | title=House finch detailed information | author=Montana state government | access-date=2007-08-14 | archive-date=2009-12-20 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091220075230/http://fwp.mt.gov/fieldguide/detail_ABPBY04040.aspx | url-status=dead }}

Nests are made in cavities, including openings in buildings, hanging plants, and other cup-shaped outdoor decorations. Sometimes nests abandoned by other birds are used. Nests may be re-used for subsequent broods or in following years. The nest is built by the female, sometimes in as little as two days. It is well made of twigs and debris, forming a cup shape, usually {{convert|1.8|to|2.7|m|ftin|abbr=on}} above the ground.

During courtship, the male will touch bills with the female. He may then present the female with choice bits of food, and if she mimics the behavior of a hungry chick, he may feed her. The male also feeds the female during breeding and incubation of the eggs, and raising of the young,{{cite journal | last=Thompson | first=William L | title=Agonistic Behavior in the House Finch. Part I: Annual Cycle and Display Patterns | journal=The Condor | volume=62 | issue=4 | publisher=University of California Press, Cooper Ornithological Society | year=1960 | url=http://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/condor/v062n04/p0245-p0271.pdf | access-date=June 28, 2008 | doi=10.2307/1365516 | pages=245–271 | jstor=1365516}} and the male is the primary feeder of the fledglings (who can be differentiated from the females by the pin feathers remaining on their heads). Females are typically attracted to the males with the deepest pigment of red to their head, more so than the occasional orange or yellowish-headed males that sometimes occur.

The female lays clutches of eggs from February through August, two or more broods per year with 2 to 6 eggs per brood, most commonly 4 or 5. The egg laying usually takes place in the morning, at one egg per day. The eggs are pale bluish-green with few black spots and a smooth, somewhat glossy surface. In response to mite infestation, which has a more deleterious effect on male chicks than on females, the mother finch may lay eggs containing females first, to reduce the length of time male chicks are exposed to mites. This strategy increases the likelihood that representative numbers of both sexes will survive.{{cite journal | last1=Badyaev|last2=Hamstra|last3= Oh|last4=Acevedo Seaman |first1=Alexander V.|first2=Terri L.|first3=Kevin P.|first4=Dana A. |publisher=National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |date=September 26, 2006 |volume=103 |issue=39 |title=Sex-biased maternal effects reduce ectoparasite-induced mortality in a passerine bird |doi=10.1073/pnas.0602452103 | pages=14406–11 | pmid=16983088| pmc=1599976 |bibcode=2006PNAS..10314406B|doi-access=free}} The female incubates the eggs for 12 to 14 days. Shortly after hatching, she removes the empty eggshells from the nest.{{cite journal| journal=Smithsonian Institution United States National Museum Bulletin | year=1968 | last = Woods | first = Robert S. | url=http://www.birdsbybent.com/ch41-50/houfinch.html | title=Life Histories of Familiar North American Birds: House Finch | pages = 290–314 | issue = 237 }} The hatchlings are pink with closed eyes and tufts of fluffy down.{{cite web | title=House Finch Nest Survey | url = http://www.birds.cornell.edu/hofi/hofins4.pdf | publisher=Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology}} The female always feeds the young. The male usually joins in. The young are silent for the first seven or eight days, and subsequently start peeping during feedings.{{cite journal | last=Evanden | first=Fred G. | title=Observations on Nesting Behavior of the House Finch | journal=The Condor | volume=59 | issue=2 | publisher=University of California Press/Cooper Ornithological Society | year=1957 | url=http://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/condor/v059n02/p0112-p0117.pdf | access-date=June 28, 2008 | doi = 10.2307/1364571 | pages=112–117| jstor=1364571 }} Initially, the mother carries fecal sacs out of the nest, but when the young become older, she no longer carries them all away, allowing droppings to accumulate around the edge of the nest. Before flying, the young often climb into adjacent plants and usually fledge at about 11 to 19 days after hatching. Dandelion seeds are among the preferred seeds for the young.{{cite web | title=A Study of the House Finch |author=Bergtold, W.H. | work=The Auk | year=1913 |url=http://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/auk/v030n01/p0040-p0073.pdf | access-date=May 23, 2008|volume=30|issue=1}} Contrary to the way most birds, even ones with herbivorous leanings as adults, tend to feed their nestlings animal matter to give them the protein necessary to grow, house finches are one of the few birds who feed their young only plant matter.

House finches are aggressive enough to drive other birds away from places such as feeders.{{cite web|url=http://museum.gov.ns.ca/mnh/nature/winbirds/colour/c07.htm |title=Backyard Birds of Winter in Nova Scotia |website=Museum.gov.ns.ca |access-date=August 18, 2009}}

House Finches Courting and Feeding.jpg|Male house finch feeding a female as part of the courtship ritual

Carpodacus mexicanus eggs.jpg|Nest and eggs

Carpodacus mexicanus in nest.jpg|Same nest with young nestlings

Carpodacus mexicanus nestlings.jpg|Older nestlings in nest in a tree cholla

Father House finch feeds baby.jpg|Male house finch feeds a fledgling, who cheeps loudly and flaps its wings.

File:Male-House-Finch-at-Bird-Feeder.jpg

The house finch may be infected by several parasites including Plasmodium relictum{{cite journal | last1=Hartup | first1=Barry K. | title=Blood Parasites of House Finches (Carpodacus mexicanus) from Georgia and New York |url=http://www.jwildlifedis.org/content/44/2/469.full.pdf| journal=Journal of Wildlife Diseases | volume=44 | issue=2 |date=April 2008 | pmid=18436682 | last2=Oberc | first2=A. | last3=Stott-Messick | first3=B. | last4=Davis | first4=A. K. | last5=Swarthout | first5=E. C. | pages=469–74 | doi=10.7589/0090-3558-44.2.469| s2cid=34120031 | doi-access=free }} and Mycoplasma gallisepticum, which caused the population of house finches in eastern North America to crash during the 1990s.{{cite journal | last1=Nolan|last2=Hill|last3= Stoehr | first1=Paul M.|first2=Geoffrey E.|first3= Andrew M. | title = Sex, Size, and Plumage Redness Predict House Finch Survival in an Epidemic | journal = Proceedings: Biological Sciences | publisher = The Royal Society | volume = 265 | date = 7 June 1998 | pmc=1689154|doi=10.1098/rspb.1998.0384 | issue = 1400 | pages=961–965}}

The mite Pellonyssus reedi is often found on house finch nestlings, particularly for nests later in the season.{{cite journal | last1=Stoehr | first1 = Andrew M.| title=Nest mites (Pellonyssus reedi) and the reproductive biology of the house finch (Carpodacus mexicanus) | journal=Canadian Journal of Zoology | year = 2000 | url=http://www.public.asu.edu/~kjmcgraw/pubs/Can.J.Zool.00MS.pdf | doi=10.1139/b98-207 | volume=78 | issue=12 | pages=2126–2133 | last2=Nolan | first2=Paul M. | last3=Hill | first3=Geoffrey E. | last4=McGraw | first4=Kevin J.}}

The brown-headed cowbird, a brood parasite, will lay its eggs in house finch nests, although the diet house finches feed their young is inadequate for the young cowbirds, which rarely survive.{{cite journal | last1=Kozlovic|last2= Knapton|last3=Barlow | first1=Daniel R.|first2=Richard W.|first3= Jon C. | title=Unsuitability of the House Finch as a Host of the Brown-Headed Cowbird | journal=The Condor | volume=96 | issue=2 | year=1996 | url=http://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/condor/v098n02/p0253-p0258.pdf |doi=10.2307/1369143 | pages=253–258|jstor= 1369143}}

In 2012, house finches positive for West Nile virus were found in northwestern Riverside County, CA.Williams, G., B. Van Dyke, B. Haynes, T. Hallum, N. McConnell, J. Allred, R. Reneau, V. Strode, L.S. Mian and M.S. Dhillon. 2013. Mosquito and West Nile Virus Surveillance at Northwest Mosquito and Vector Control District during 2012. Proc. Calif. Mosq. Vector Control Assoc. 81:147-153.

The house finch is assessed as "Least Concern" on the IUCN Red List due to its extensive range, increasing population trend, and large population size, none of which approach Vulnerable thresholds. North American data indicate a substantial and statistically significant population increase (82.9% over 40 years, or 16.3% per decade) based on Breeding Bird Survey and Christmas Bird Count data.{{Cite web |last=BirdLife International |title=House Finch (Haemorhous mexicanus) |url=https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/house-finch-haemorhous-mexicanus/text |access-date=2025-01-30 |website=BirdLife International datazone}}

{{Reflist|35em}}

• [http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/uw298 Florida's Introduced Birds: House Finch (Carpodacus mexicanus)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101007005910/http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/uw298 |date=2010-10-07 }} – University of Florida fact sheet
• [http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/framlst/i5190id.html House Finch - Carpodacus mexicanus] - USGS Patuxent Bird Identification InfoCenter
• [http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/Infocenter/Song/h5190so.mp3 House Finch Sound] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110515065745/http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/Infocenter/Song/h5190so.mp3 |date=2011-05-15 }}
• {{InternetBirdCollection|house-finch-carpodacus-mexicanus|House Finch}}
• {{cite web |url=https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/birds/florida-bird-sounds/ |title=House Finch Bird Sound |date=27 April 2017 |publisher=Florida Museum of Natural History}} from {{Citation |title=Sounds of Florida's Birds |year=1998 |first=J. W. |last=Hardy}}
• {{VIREO|house+finch|House Finch}}

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Category:Haemorhous

Category:Birds of North America

Category:Birds of Mexico

Category:Fauna of the San Francisco Bay Area

Category:Birds described in 1776

Category:Taxa named by Philipp Ludwig Statius Müller