"Yellow " House Finches?...and Christmas is only 291 days away

If you keep a bird feeder well stocked during the winter in Northeast Washington you will very likely have several House finches as regular guests at your table. These birds are well adapted to being around human presence and thus have gained the moniker "House" finch. The males are generally easily identified with their raspberry red head and breast. Females remain brownish with narrow dark stripes along their flanks and chest, but no appreciable color.

But wait...did you just see a strangely colored bird that looks like a House finch, but is orange-sh to even maybe yellow-ish in color?  You very well could have. Male House finch color variants are not uncommon. Depending on diet, some male House finches can have a distinctly different color than red; typically orange-ish to yellow-ish in tone. I saw one of these variants at my feeder earlier this winter (see photo below). The color variation can be due to specific types of foods that the bird has eaten, or, may be due to a diet that lacks the necessary pigments to produce the distinctive red coloration we are used to.

                           House Finch-male color variant

                           House Finch- typical red coloration

Here's a Bird Note article and audio podcast about the House Finch color variations. Bird Note is a daily podcast that is actually produced out of the Seattle area and can be heard on public radio, and of course, by subscribing.  It's a quick and fun listen that covers a wide variety of birds facts and life histories.

March is a very tough time for birds. Most natural foods have already been eaten or decomposed over the preceding months. So, if you have been keeping a feeder this winter don't quit now. As more spring early migrants arrive there will be increasing competition for scare food resources. Until insects start to emerge and receding snows uncover new caches of seeds your feeder might be their only lifeline.

Christmas? So why do I mention Christmas? Crazy, right? This is an early reminder that every year (for over a 100 years now) thousands of volunteer birders participate in the Christmas Bird Count (CBC). Audubon recently posted some results of the 2018  Christmas Bird Count. You can select individual species and states/regions/provinces to view the trend in winter sightings over time.

Consider joining your local CBC this coming December. L coal CBC's are conducted in Colville, Chewelah and Newport. The CBC surveys are conducted each year sometime within two weeks before or after Christmas each year. This is a citizen science effort that helps scientists and decision makers to identify bird species that might be in trouble and which ones are doing well.  More will be posted regarding these events as we move into November.

Get ready, the spring migration is coming...

Good Birding,
                             - Hawkeye