Monterey Birds: May 2007

Thursday, May 31, 2007

Yellow-Headed Blackbird [?]

Frog Pond Wetland Preserve. May 31, 2007

Spotted Towhee

Elkhorn Slough. June 17, 2007

Frog Pond Wetland Preserve. May 31, 2007

Brewer's Blackbird (female) ?

Photo taken in my backyard. June 1, 2007.

Photo taken in my backyard. May 31, 2007.

Tricolored Blackbird (male)

Photo taken in my backyard. May 31, 2007.

House Sparrow (male)

Through my office window. (April 24, 2007)

Salinas Backyard. June 8, 2007

House Finch (female)

Through my office window. (April 24, 2007)

See House Finch Male

House Finch (male)

Through my office window. (April 24, 2007)

House Finch
Carpodacus Mexicanus

A bright red and brown-striped bird of the cities and suburbs, the House Finch comes readily to feeders. It also breeds in close association with people, and often chooses a hanging plant in which to put its nest.

Cool Facts:

The House Finch was originally a bird of the southwestern United States and Mexico. In 1940 a small number of finches were turned loose on Long Island, New York, and they quickly started breeding. They spread across the entire eastern United States and southern Canada within the next 50 years.
The red or yellow color of a male House Finch comes from pigments that it gets in its food during molt. The more pigment in the food, the redder the male. Females prefer to mate with the reddest male they can find, perhaps assuring that they get a capable male who can find enough food to feed the nestlings.
When nestling House Finches defecate, the feces are contained in a membranous sac, as in most birds. The parents eat the fecal sacs of the nestlings for about the first five days. In most songbird species, when the parents stop eating the sacs, they carry the sacs away and dispose of them. But House Finch parents do not remove them, and the sacs accumulate around the rim of the nest.

Borrowed from Cornell Lab of Ornithology

More Details:
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/House_Finch.html