finches

Big flocks of House Finches -- many juveniles as well as adult males and females -- all around the edge and head of the marsh. This is a bird that was severely decimated by an eye disease in recent years so this marks a major return of a once common species. The history of this Haemorhous 'rosefinch' is rather strange as it was once considered a desert (or semi-desert) species of the southwest and Mexico; it appeared in the East only in the 1940s or so with the back story that a pet dealer somewhere on Long Island was illegally selling them as "Hollywood Finches"; staying one step ahead of the Feds (it was and is illegal by Federal law to sell native species), he liberated them to the wild. They were not included in the early editions of the Peterson Field Guide and for many years, people called them Purple Finches, a distinctly different (and much less common) rosefinch on Long Island. The House Finches, well adapted to suburban and even urban habitats, prospered and spread from Long Island to the entire northeast and then westward. Their western cousins were also doing well and expanding eastward. Eventually the two populations met somewhere in the middle and interbred successfully and their range now covers most of temperate North America.

These House Finches are feeding on the seeds of Iva frutscens (Marsh Elder or High Tide Bush) which is common along the edges of the marsh. They mix easily with the American Goldfinches which also like the Iva seeds. The two finches are not much alike. The House Finches are bigger and more sparrowy and the mature males are quite red and have a pleasant finch song (although not at this season). The Goldfinches are small and yellowy with black-and-white wings; the males are bright yellow and have a black cap and a variety of high-pitched songs. What they have in common is their flocking nature and appetite for small seeds.

I spent a lot of time looking for other finches among the House- and Gold- but without any luck. Anyway, it's still early in the fall season.

All three larger flycatchers were around. There were two Eastern Kingbirds on the dead Red Cedar on our pond as well as at least one Phoebe and one Great Crested. Still no smaller flycatchers. On the creek: Forster's and Royal Terns, Great Blue and Green Herons as well as Belted Kingfisher.

Eric Salzman