The most common bird around here is the House Finch, a gregarious participant in the life of the yard and bird bath, with a long twittering song. The red plumage of a male House Finch comes from carotenoids in the food it eats during molt (birds can’t make bright red or yellow colours directly). Females prefer to mate with the reddest male they can find.

House Finches are native to the Western United States. They were introduced to Oahu from San Francisco sometime before 1870, and had become abundant on all the major Hawaiian Islands by 1901. In 1940, they were turned loose on Long Island, New York, and spread across almost all of the eastern United States and southern Canada within the next 50 years. They can be found in a wide variety of habitats including dry desert, coniferous forests, suburbs, and cities.

Unlike most other birds, House Finches exclusively feed their nestlings plant-based foods, including seeds. Most other vegetarian adult birds feed their babies protein-rich insects. At our place, the favourite lunch seems to be rosemary flowers.