Male house finches are usually marked with red, but sometimes those red areas are replaced with orange or yellow or some of both. The red pigment in the feathers is affected by what the finch eats ...

Molting is when the bird loses old feathers to grow new ones. The more pigment in the food, the brighter red the bird. Coloring can vary and some male house finches have a yellow-orange color.

It’s that time of year here in our neck of Pennsylvania when it’s prime nesting season for our feathered friends. Case in ...

In the 1940s, house finches had been illegally captured and ... bird with black and white striped tales and chests, brown side feathers, and orange cheeks. Females are usually gray.

One other example of “birds not of a feather nesting together” does ... Although martins are bigger than sparrows, the house sparrow, as a finch, has a more sizeable beak.

Not a crimson feather to be seen. She has a prominent bold head pattern which makes her easy to distinguish from the smaller but, just as drab, female house finch. Purple finches are small, gregarious ...

This can cause some birders (including myself) to take a second look at a male house finch that has broad coverage of pinkish feathers and wonder if it is a purple finch. When a genuine male purple ...

One other example of “birds not of a feather nesting together” involves ... Although martins are bigger than sparrows, the house sparrow, as a finch, has a more sizeable beak.