House finches, goldfinches and pine siskins all love this treat.
The proximate basis of inter- and intra-population variation in female plumage coloration in the
House Finch. Canadian Journal of Zoology, 71: 619-627.
The team experimentally infected wild-caught
House Finches, allowing them to measure how sick the birds got with each sample.
No significant differences in bird abundance were observed during Trial 2 among the three large-seed varieties with three species being observed >30 times: Rose-breasted Grosbeak (Pheucticus ludovicianus, N = 61),
House Finch (N = 48), and American Goldfinch (N = 197).
Host Species Infected n Northern Cardinal 40.9 [+ or -] 6.4% 8 House Sparrow 30.4 [+ or -] 6.9% 7
House Finch 20.3 [+ or -] 5.8% 4 Host Species Uninfected n t P Northern Cardinal 41.4 [+ or -] 1.4% 29 .07 <0.05 House Sparrow 27.6 [+ or -] 0.72% 48 2.71 >0.01
House Finch 20.7 [+ or -] 0.68% 30 1.47 <0.05 Assessing the effects of blood parasites on wild hosts is a difficult process and there is even some debate as to whether these parasites are pathogenic or not (Atkinson & Van Riper 1991).
Compared to Marler's results where subordinate females dyed to resemble males increased in dominance relative to males, our most analogous result occurred after altering subordinate male
house finch coloration (covering red with blue) which increased their dominance relative to females.
Additionally, males have been shown experimentally to prefer brighter females in at least two species: pinyon jays (Johnson 1988) and
house finches (Carpodacus mexicanus, Hill 1993).
During the next 60 years, what are now called
house finches (Carpodacus mexicanus) moved into all the other lower-48 states and beyond.
A red bird in a brown bag: the function and evolution of colorful plumage coloration in the
House Finch. Oxford Univ.
In recent years, FeederWatchers have helped track the spread of a disease that has devastated
house finch populations.
(Only three species of North American finches are not winter wanderers: the lesser goldfinch, Lawrence's goldfinch and
house finch.) Red-breasted nuthatches, which are more closely related to chickadees, might also be considered honorary "winter finches" because of their similar feeding -- and wandering -- habits.
Moreover, male choice in a species like the
house finch is particularly difficult to measure because all females pair every year (Hill 1993b); thus, dichotomous comparisons between successful and unsuccessful individuals are not possible.