Posted by Bob Lefebvre
I’ve started to see some newly fledged House Finches around my yard recently, so I thought I’d post this video from last year, taken by Sandy and David Currie. I’ve never seen where the House Finches nest in my area, but the Curries had House Finches nesting inside a Christmas wreath hanging in their window for four of the five years to 2014. This gave them a great opportunity to photograph the birds from egg to hatching. They took time-lapse photos about eight hours a day to give a thirty-minute video of each days’ events. It was eleven days from the female beginning to brood to the first egg hatching. Here is the edited result:
House Finches nesting. Photos/video by David and Sandy Currie.
An update for the 2015 nesting season: Five eggs were laid and four hatched, but then magpies found the nest and ate the hatchlings and destroyed the nest. The adult House Finches keep returning and may try to nest again, but will probably have to find a new site if they want to raise a brood.
Update from Sandy : she has laid 4 more eggs after losing last brood and has started to stay at home again. Maybe there will be 5 eggs tomorrow am. Hope the magpies are busy with their own or gone on holidays!
Maybe you can help me. I have a nest in my spruce tree with lots of activity. There is much “cheeping” and the parents are constantly going in and out. I don’t know if they are house finches or not. They look like sparrows, but the coloring is different. Some have a rusty red on the head and the same color on some of the feathers on the back. I have not heard any of the normal song so am confused as to the birds in my tree and what they are. Do you have any ideas? Thanks.
Yes, those are probably House Finches. The males have reddish colours on the breast, face, and rump.