The House Finch

One of the first birds I noticed when I started to feed birds was the House Finch.  I had hung up a feeder and filled it with black oil sunflower seed for the benefit of an elderly housebound friend who lived next door.  When I first saw these very pretty little red birds, I asked her what they were, and she told me they were House Finches.  Since then, I have learned that the males are the ones who are red, and the females are brown with white stripes on their wings.  There is also a larger, redder finch that resembles the House Finch called the Purple Finch, but these tend to be in the area more during the winter.

House Finches are actually the descendants of pet finches that people have let go through the years, and have adapted readily to living in the wild.  Unlike other introduced species, however, (such as starlings and sparrows) they are a popular backyard visitor.  They also have a tendency to make their nests in hanging pots, so if you do manage to attract them to your yard, you will have to keep an eye open for this!  If you are interested in attracting these lovely little birds, they are actually fairly easy to lure in.

Male House Finch Eating Safflower Seed (photo by SCB)

Seed
House Finches enjoy a wide variety of seed.  They love black oil sunflower seed, striped sunflower seed, thistle and safflower seed.  When I first began to feed them, I provided them with plenty of the first three, but the sparrows eventually took over these feeders and drove them away (although they stand up to the sparrows a lot more than other shyer birds do).  Eventually I decided to simply go with the safflower, because this is also one of their favorites, and they have very little competition for it.  A plus about putting out safflower seed is that you will also get other visitors who like it, such as cardinals, mourning doves, chickadees, tufted titmice and even some of the less common birds in the area, such as red-breasted grosbeaks and indigo buntings.  Another plus is that other less welcome visitors, such as grackles, starlings (and, of course, sparrows) don't really care for it, so they will either avoid the feeder entirely or merely pick at it when nothing else is available.

Plants
I have never actually noticed House Finches being attracted to any particular type of plants, except, of course, the hanging pots they like to borrow.  They do like to perch in small trees and bushes, but I have hung all of my finch feeders from old clothesline poles for years, and they seem just as happy perching on those as any branch they might find.

Male House Finch Eating Safflower Seeder (photo by SCB)

Feeders
House Finches will use any type of feeder you choose to put out.  They seem to be more attracted by what is in the feeder than its appearance!

Another plus about House Finches is that they are relatively friendly, and are one of the most easily observable birds.  They not only ignore me when I'm outside, they also ignore my dogs, and this is something I honestly couldn't say about many of the other birds that visit my yard.