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

Sounds like a house finch. The winter plumage of the Am. gold finch is more olive than browm with distinct black and white bars. Too, I currently have lots of gold finches and strangely enough, there is one already in full breeding plumage! Donna

I have two feeders one with BOSS, the other has nyger seed. I had a flocks of chikadees and finches. They suddenly left, occasionally I will see a few of each come to the feeders, they peck a little then leave. My trees are full of birds. Should I empty the feeders, and add new seeds? I don't know exactly how I should clean the feeders, the seeds aren't old. We did have a few slight showers last week, is it possible they may be tainted? I have no idea. I would also love to attract the tiny little birds I see in the trees. I don't know what type of feeder or seed. They certainly are not hummers, I can't see them that close, they appear to be dark in color. Also I have some cardinals that cannot feed in my cage feeder, but I also have a huge grackle problem. How should I feed my cards? I live in South Texas. Thank You!

Yes, Purple Finches also don't have those brown streaked flanks that are present on House Finches. BN