House Finch (Carpodacus mexicanus)

County List:

Rule:

Mixed Forested/Nonforested or Nonforested Landscapes

      Residential
   containing:
      Mast

Habitat List:

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Literature:

Habitat: House Finches prosper where human alteration of the environment has been most extensive. Areas with scattered buildings surrounded by grassy lawns and landscaped with small conifers and ornamental shrubs, as typifies suburbs, college campuses, and industrial parks, provide optimum habitat for House Finches. They can also be found in rural areas around houses and out-structures on farms as well as in windbreaks, cemeteries, and nurseries.

House Finches place their open cup nests in an amazing variety of structures - conifers, lamps, hanging potted plants, ledges on the sides of ivy-covered buildings, and inside parking garages to name some of the more common sites. The only requirements appear to be a stable base onto which the nest can be anchored and a protective overhang, preferably within a few inches of the nest, to keep out rain and snow. Nest height is also extremely variable, ranging in Michigan from less than 1 m to over 20 m. Males do not defend territories, so pairs often aggregate at preferred nesting sites where it is not uncommon to find two or more nests in close proximity.

Habitat: Breeding: Rural, suburban and urban yards, city parks, farms, open woods. Wintering: Same as breeding habitat.

Special Habitat Requirements: Birds may require open ground with low seed-producing plants and fruits and berries during part of the year.

Habitat: Cities, suburbs, farms, canyons. Original habitat was probably streamside trees and brush in dry country, woodland edges, chaparral, other semi-open areas. Now most commonly associated with humans in cities, towns, and farmland, especially in areas with lawns, weedy areas, trees, buildings. Avoids unbroken forest or grassland.

Diet: Mostly seeds, buds, berries. Almost all of diet is vegetable matter. Feeds mainly on weed seeds. Other important items include buds and flower parts in spring, berries, and small fruits in late summer and fall. Also eats a few insects, mostly small ones such as aphids. Young are fed on regurgitated seeds.

Nest: Wide variety of sites, especially in conifers, palms, ivy on buildings, cactus, holes in man-made structures, averaging about 12-15 feet above ground. Sometimes uses sites such as cavities, hanging planters, old nests of other birds. Nest is open cup of grass, weeds, fine twigs, leaves, rootlets, sometimes with feathers, string or other debris added.