House Finch Parenting

The House Finch brood fledged yesterday, but I thought I would share some of the details about their efforts to raise the next generation. This photo represents the only time I have ever seen them come to the hanging basket at the same time. It was on the evening before the chicks left the nest.

Some birds will encourage their young to leave the nest shortly before nightfall. I thought the House Finches might be one of those species, but it turned out they left very soon after sunrise. There are some butterflies and moths that emerge right before dark to increase their chance of survival and allow their wings time to dry.

The male House Finch, unlike any other bird, does not defend a territory; he defends the female. I witnessed this last spring when he would follow her everywhere she went collecting nesting material while he would stay close to her but not participate in building the nest. This spring, however, I did see him with grass a couple of times, but it could be I mistakenly thought he was helping to construct the nest when in actuality, he was simply eating some grass seeds.

When the parents are not on the nest or foraging for food, they are sitting in the nearby trees keeping an eye on their brood. The female has a simple two-note ascending voice that sounds as though she is asking a question. The male has a much more complex vocalization, but it doesn't seem to vary much.

The eggs took two weeks to hatch and it was also two weeks from the time they hatched until they left the nest. In those short two weeks their growth rate cannot be described as anything but phenomenal! I would bet there are some days when they almost double in weight. The time and energy the parents invest in them is also admirable. They spend the entire days gathering food and feeding the chicks continuously. Unlike almost any other bird, they feed their young strictly plant matter. They don't feed them insects.

The chicks look very similar to the female and the pin feathers sticking out all over their head are one of the few ways you can tell the difference, although that down-turned corner of their mouth is probably another way of distinguishing the young from an adult.

The chicks, for their own survival, stay quiet when the parents are gone. When they bring food back to the nest, the parents will land in the nearby trees first and let the chicks know they are getting ready to bring them food. The male is singing in this photo. The chicks will begin to get pretty boisterous at that time, cheeping and excitedly fluttering around the interior of the nest. When the coast seems clear, the parent will fly to the nest.