House finches, unlike starlings or sparrows (these birds are considered to be invasive), are native to Canada and can be found all over North America.
The red colouring comes from the foods they eat: the more carotenoids they ingest from fruit, flowers and seeds, the redder they will become. That’s why there’s so much variation in colour and they get mixed up with other types of red coloured finches such as redpolls and purple finches. Personally, I always think that they look like someone spilled raspberry juice on them!
Finches love peanut butter and nyjer (thistle) seed, and if you also have a water source in your yard, you will attract many of them, sometimes 20 or 30 at a time. They’re busy, non-aggressive little birds who love to chat non-stop with each other and are beautiful to watch.
Happy Thursday.
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