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Exploring the beautiful nature of California


California Nature: Finches


Finches are seed-eating passerine birds, that are small to moderately large and have a strong beak, usually conical and in some species very large. All have 12 tail feathers and 9 primaries. These birds have a bouncing flight with alternating bouts of flapping and gliding on closed wings, and most sing well. There are 137 species world wide, 23 North American species, and 15 Californian species. A group of finches has many collective nouns, including a "charm", "company", and "trembling" of finches

Finches are typically inhabitants of well-wooded areas, but some can be found on mountains or even in deserts. They are primarily granivorous, but euphoniines include considerable amounts of arthropods and berries in their diet, and Hawaiian honeycreepers evolved to utilize a wide range of food sources, including nectar. True finches have a bouncing flight like most small passerines, alternating bouts of flapping with gliding on closed wings. Most sing well and several are commonly seen cage birds.
There are a wide variety of finches in California nature The Gray-crowned Rosy Finch is a medium-sized finch. Adults are brown on the back and breast and mainly pink on the rest of the underparts and the wings. The forehead and throat are black; the back of the head is grey. Gray-crowned Rosy Finch have short black legs and a long forked tail. There is some variability in the amount of grey on the head.

The Gray-crowned Rosy Finch breeding habitat is rocky islands and barren areas on mountains from Alaska to the northwestern United States. They build a cup nest in a sheltered location on the ground or on a cliff. Gray-crowned Rosy Finch are permanent residents on some islands and in the Canadian Rockies. Other birds migrate south to the western United States.

Gray-crowned Rosy Finch birds forage on the ground, many fly to catch insects in flight. They mainly eat seeds from weeds and grasses, and insects. They often feed in small flocks. At one time, this bird, the Black Rosy Finch and the Brown-capped Rosy Finch were considered to be the same species as the Asian Rosy Finch.
The House Finch is a recent introduction from western into eastern North America (and Hawaii), but it has received a warmer reception than other arrivals like the European Starling and House Sparrow. That’s partly due to the cheerful red head and breast of males, and to the bird’s long, twittering song, which can now be heard in most of the neighborhoods of the continent. If you haven’t seen one recently, chances are you can find one at the next bird feeder you come across.

House Finches are small-bodied finches with fairly large beaks and somewhat long, flat heads. The wings are short, making the tail seem long by comparison. Many finches have distinctly notched tails, but the House Finch has a relatively shallow notch in its tail.

House Finches are gregarious birds that collect at feeders or perch high in nearby trees. When they’re not at feeders, they feed on the ground, on weed stalks, or in trees. They move fairly slowly and sit still as they shell seeds by crushing them with rapid bites. Flight is bouncy, like many finches.
male finches have more colorful faethers than the females The American Goldfinch, or wild canary, is a delightful visitor to backyards where thistle seed is offered. They are abundant over most of North America where there is suitable habitat, except in the Cascade and Sierra Nevada Mountains.

The male in breeding plumage is bright lemon yellow with black wings, tail and a black cap. These finches are 4.5 to 5.5 inches long with a wingspan of 8.75 to 9 inches. Weights range from 12 to a little more than 14 grams. The intense yellow plumage of the male is produced by carotenoid pigments such as leutin, zeoxanthin, and beta-carotene derived from plant materials in the bird’s diet. The slender beak is especially adapted to extract seeds from the seed head of plants such as the thistle, birch, alder, cedar and elm.

The female is more drab than the male, and her plumage will blend in better with the surroundings when she is on the nest. When incubating eggs, the female will develop a brood patch on her belly to efficiently transfer heat to the eggs.
Lawrence's Goldfinch is a small songbird of erratic distribution that breeds in California and Baja California and winters in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. Lawrence's Goldfinch is known for its wandering habits. It breeds from about Shasta County, California to northern Baja California, largely in the Coast Ranges and the foothills of the Sierra Nevada and in the Baja highlands, but also sometimes as far down as the coast;

Adults of both sexes are gray with pink to grayish flesh-color bills, stubbier than other goldfinches'. They have yellow rumps and paired yellowish wing-bars, as well as yellow edges on the flight feathers and yellow on the breast. The tail is black, crossed by a white band

Lawrence's Goldfinch feeds almost entirely on seeds of shrubs and forbs. During the nesting season, it eats seeds of annuals, strongly favoring the Common Fiddleneck. At other seasons in California, it predominantly eats Chamise achenes and also berries of mistletoe and California Buckthorn.
Blackbirds    California Condor    Cardinals    Cranes    Crows, Jays, & Magpies   Eagles    Finches    Flycatchers    Hawks Hummingbirds    Owls    Game Birds    Raptors    Shore Birds    Sparrows    Tanager    Thrushes    Vultures    Wading Birds Warblers      Woodpeckers      Wrens
 
 
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