House finches...to love them or to hate them? Here's the story. They are native to Mexico and the Western United States, but were brought into the NYC area as cage birds in the 1930's. When pet stores found out they were a protected species (almost all passerines are), they released them, and the released birds began to breed. From those few dozen birds, the population of house finches in the northeastern states grew to over 10 million, and they began to spread southward. The first accepted record of one appearing in Florida was in 1983. The birds now breed as far south as Tampa and Lakeland, with some isolated colonies appearing even farther south. The malel house finch's color can vary from yellow to red, with the females seeming to prefer the reddest males. So...they don't really belong here, but they sure are pretty, and I suspect there is not one thing we can do about them being here, so we may as well enjoy them. Great pictures, Kara! Thanks for sharing! Marcia

Sure looks like a cowbird egg to me.

Well these barn swallows have been re-furbishing this same nest on our porch year after year. There really is no other location on the porch or nearby that would be practical or safe for the swallows to nest. This southwestern corner is under the eaves above our steep staircase, high up and inaccessible to predators. I don't know for sure they are the *same* two swallows year after year, but there is only the one nest. Meanwhile Mrs Finch is sitting on the nest and occasionally perching on the edge to turn her eggs. I imagine Mr Finch takes over nest sitting duties, although I haven't witnessed the changing of the guards. I do see him sometimes land on the ledge and sometimes in the little crabapple tree nearby. It is totally strange to see the pair of barn swallows arriving at dusk to spend each night perched next to the nest. I wonder if one or both could be last year's barn swallow babies.

I saw the bird feeder on sale hmm have you fill it up with safflower I do a mix of sunflower and safflower but I got way toooooo many sparrows