House Finch

Haemorhous mexicanus

The House Finch is a bird that once was found only in the Western United States and Mexico, but over the past few decades that have spread across the continent and can now be found on the Atlantic Coast! Estimates are that there are over a billion of them in North America, and they can form flocks that number several hundred birds.

House Finches are small little birds with brownish coloration and blunt, squared tails. The males actually change color slightly over the course of the year, becoming more vibrant when they have the best food supplies. You see, their red or yellow colors come from what they eat, so abundant food leads to brighter hues.

The bright feathers are very important come breeding time. Females pick the males with the best colors to mate with, because those males clearly known how to locate food-- a very important trait when you may have up to 6 offspring at once! Interestingly, House Finches feed their chicks an exclusively vegetarian diet. Most birds, even ones that eat plants as adults, feed their young insects and other critters to give them a good amount of protein.

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IUCN Status : Least Concern
Location : North America
Size : Length up to 5.5in (14cm), Wingspan up to 10in (25cm)

Classification : Phylum : Chordata -- Class : Aves -- Order : Passeriformes
Family : Fringillidae -- Genus : Haemorhous -- Species : H. mexicanus

Common Chaffinch

Fringilla coelebs (male)

The Common Chaffinch is a bird with a very large distribution. They can be found throughout Europe, large patches of western Asia, and north Africa and the Middle East. They have also been introduced to Australia and New Zealand, and are occasionally found in southeast Asia and even in the United States. There are many different location-based subspecies.

The males of the species are easy to identify-- they have white barred wings, a red chest, and a bright blue cap. Females are less colorful, and sport hints of green. Their name comes from "Chaff Finch," because they are fond of pecking out different grains to eat.

Most of the Common Chaffinches live in resident populations. Only those that live in colder regions will migrate to warmer climates during the winter. Migrating flocks can sometimes become quite large, though most of the time the birds live in very small groups or in pairs.

Breeding time brings about courtships displays from the males. After mating, the males leaves and the female nests in a tree fork. She will lay up to four eggs which take only two weeks to incubate and another two weeks for the chicks to fledge. Interestingly, the young Chaffinches are fed insects rather than seeds, though seeds will be their primary food source as adults.

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IUCN Status : Least Concern
Location : Europe, parts of Africa and Asia
Size :  Length up to 6in (16cm)

Classification : Phylum : Chordata -- Class : Aves -- Order : Passeriformes
Family : Fringillidae -- Genus : Fringilla -- Species : F. coelebs

Yariguies Brush-Finch

The Yariguies Brush-Finch is a subspecies discovered only seven years ago. It remained hidden for so long because it lives in Yariguies Mountains, which hadn't seen any sort of biological survey until 2004.

Atlapetes latinuchus yariguierum

The Yariguies Brush-Finch differs from the other finches of it's species by its coloration. Their plumage is black on the back, yellow underneath, and they sport a pretty neat looking red mohawk! Other related finches have different colored backs with white markings on the wings.

It took several years to determine that these Finches were a whole new subspecies. DNA analysis helped to confirm the identification. And interestingly, they made actually become an entire new species! A. latinuchus, their current overall species, may be split up and reclassified.

Yariguies Brush-Finches, though newly discovered, are already protected. A few months after its confirmation, the Colombian government set aside its habitat as a protected area.

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IUCN Status : Not Listed

Location : Colombia

Classification : Phylum : Chordata -- Class : Aves -- Order : Passeriformes
Family : Emberizidae -- Genus : Atlapetes-- Species : A. latinuchus -- Subspecies : A. l. yariguierum