Tennessee House Finch

Minnesota House Finch

SOMETIMES I THINK THERE is something seriously wrong with me. Whenever I travel, I notice something different about incredibly common things.

For example, I am writing this column while in Pigeon Forge, Tenn., the gateway to the Great Smoky Mountains. I am here to speak at a wildlife conference and of course to slip away for a couple days to do some photography. On one of my days away from the conference, I was set to photograph some bluebirds when a male House Finch landed in front of me.

A millisecond after I started photographing the House Finch, I noticed how different it looked from the house finches in my home state of Minnesota. Its red plumage was more pronounced, and its black streaking was more defined. Also its brown cap was not as well defined as I would have expected.

Overall, the House Finch looked brighter than the finches in the upper Midwest but not as red as the male House Finches I see in Arizona. I spend a lot of time in the southwest and see lots of House Finches, and I can tell you the males are very bright red.

I made several mental notes of the bird’s appearances, and as soon as I could, I did a little research into the differences I was seeing. Lo and behold, the difference has been documented.

But first, let’s look at the history of this oh-so-common bird. Originally, the House Finch was found only in the Southwest and Mexico. In the early 1900s, thousands of these birds were captured and sold across the eastern half of the country under the name of Hollywood Finches.