The Nature of Things

House Finches are permanent residents in our area, but they are not everyday visitors to my yard or to my feeders. Like many songbird species, the females are not as brightly colored as the males. A very brightly colored male and his more drably marked mate visit one of my feeders. I love hearing the musical song of the House Finches as they flit about the trees in my yard and they are always welcome visitors to my feeders when they choose to drop in for a snack. In winter, we also occasionally get visits from the House Finch's close cousin, the Purple Finch , but it has been years since I actually saw one of them at one of my feeders. Even though these two finches are not regular visitors to my backyard feeders, that doesn't mean that I'm lacking for finches these days. Pine Siskins and American Goldfinches crowd my backyard feeders, along with one lone House Sparrow , earlier this week.