By Rick LoBello, Board Member
Most seed eating birds with thick bills are easy to watch and identify. Here in El Paso one of the most commonly seen little seed eating birds is the House Finch. If you have a bird feeder at home you may have noticed how some have reddish heads, necks and shoulders and others are deep gray in color. The ones with the red color are the males, all others are either females or juveniles.
House Finches are commonly seen at bird feeders. They eat mainly plant materials including seeds, buds and fruits. Wild foods include wild mustard seeds, knotweed, thistle, mulberry, poison oak, cactus and many other species.
House Finches have adapted to urban areas and their numbers are on the rise. They are found over a large area of North America from Canada to Mexico. In their native range in the West, House Finches live in natural habitats including dry desert, desert grassland, chaparral, oak savannah, streamsides, and open coniferous forests at elevations below 6,000 feet.
Photos by Rick LoBello
Chihuahuan Desert Education Coalition 