House Finch
Why they call them House Finches I wasn’t able to answer from my sources. It may have something to do with the fact that the birds were sold in pet shops in New York as ornamental caged birds for the home. When the Migratory Bird Act in 1940 outlawed their sale, store owners released them to the wild, and they survived and spread on the East Coast. But our West Coast birds more likely derived from their home range in Mexico and the Southwestern U.S. Their Latin name is Haemorhous mexicanus. In any case, there they were in Cesar Chavez Park this morning after the big rain, and at least one of the males stood still long enough in decent light to have a proper portrait taken. The others flitted through the fennel so fast that I could only get snapshots. Here’s one of them doing its morning song; there’s also some blackbird calls in the background.
