What are you eating?

Orange-variant House Finch on top of feeder made entirely of recycled wood. Margaret Madsen photo

My last blog was about a bird house recycled from a rotten log. Today we have a feeder built entirely of recycled wood by our son Karl. But actually, it's not the feeder I want to talk about, but that little guy perched up on top. Okay, okay, it's not a great photo. You'll have to trust me when I tell you it's a House Finch and not your regular run-of-the mill red-fronted House Finch but an orange variant.

House Finches are cheerful streaky brown and white sparrow-like little birds with red breasts, foreheads, eyebrows and rumps. The red can range from bright scarlet through shades of red-orange to orange and even yellow. We had yellow variants at our feeder here in Naicam last summer. It was hard to believe they were the same species as the scarlet red birds eating next to them. The variation in color is apparently linked to carotenoid pigments in the fruits the birds eat, according to The Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behavior.

I learned another interesting tidbit about the domestic life of House Finches from Sibley. The male apparently feeds the female while she is busy incubating the eggs and after the chicks are born, he continues to feed her, regurgitating seeds into her mouth. She then in turn regurgitates seeds into the mouths of her newly-hatched babies. As soon as the chicks are covered with enough downy feathers to keep them warm when she leaves the nest, she joins her mate in bringing food to their growing family.

Another "red" bird that regularly visits our summer feeders is the misnamed Purple Finch. Roger Tory Peterson, author/artist of the famous Peterson Field Guides, described them as "sparrows dipped in raspberry juice." It's the perfect description. Their red has a tinge of blue in it, just like raspberries.

Female House and Purple Finches have no red but both are streaked brown and white. You can tell them apart by checking their heads. The female Purple Finch has a prominent light stripe behind her eye, a dark brown  cheek patch, white jaw stripe and dark broad chin stripe. The female House Finch, on the other hand, has a plain brownish face.

Ah me, life at our feeders at the moment is pretty boring - House Sparrows, Black-capped Chickadees and Redpolls. It was the red on the Redpolls that reminded me of the red finches of summer and inspired today's blog.

I'll be back here again on Monday. I will try to continue to post Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Meanwhile, if you have a bird photo or story you'd like to share, email it to me at rutan212@gmail.com.