2020 Bonanza Birds #1-4: North American Finches

Birdorable North American Finches

Today we start our 2020 Birdorable Bonanza with a bang! Actually… make that an IRRUPTION! We’re kicking off 29 days of new birds by dropping four finches in this “finch invasion” winter season. A bright spot in 2020, many birders are delighting at seeing these and other finches visit their feeders for the first time in many years or for the first time ever.

Northern finches follow the food, and when they have a good season, large flocks of them might congregate farther south than in other years; their gregarious groups are a delight to see.

Today’s new Birdorable finches are the Pine Siskin; the Red Crossbill; the White-winged Crossbill; and the Purple Finch.

Pine Siskins are extremely gregarious and may be found in feeding flocks of hundreds of individuals. Wow!

Crossbills are named for their specialized bills, crossed at the tip, which allows them to feed on conifer seeds by stripping cones down to reach the food inside. Different crossbills specialize in different kinds of conifer seeds. Isn’t that neat?

Male Purple Finches have a beautiful bright raspberry red, streaky plumage. Females and juveniles are duller, with little to no red, though you can see the same face mask pattern on adult females.

Purple Finch
Purple Finch by John Benson (CC BY 2.0)

Find our new finches in a variety of new designs on a great assortment of apparel and other products, available in our shop.

Tomorrow our 2020 Birdorable Bonanza will continue with a bird native to Australia with a long, curved bill and a bare head. Birds of this family are found nearly all around the world. Can you guess tomorrow’s new species?

Finch Gifts

Comments

Spurwing Plover on May 21, 2022 at 9:36 PM wrote:
I have seen the House Finch
Spurwing Plover on June 1, 2022 at 5:20 PM wrote:
Pine Siskins will eat Weed Seeds i hve seen them eating Danlelion Seeds

Leave a comment

Comments with links or HTML will be deleted. Your comment will be published pending approval.
Your email address will not be published
You can unsubscribe from these communications at any time. For more information on how to unsubscribe, our privacy practices, and how we are committed to protecting and respecting your privacy, please review our Privacy Policy. By clicking submit below, you consent to allow Birdorable to store and process the personal information submitted above to provide you the content requested.

Crumbivore and Other Totally Real Bird Eating Terms

Whether you've seen birds of prey capture a snack on the wing, you've watched dabbling ducks feeding at the bottom of a pond, or you lure birds to your own yard by offering special snacks, eating is an interesting behavior to observe in birds. For this special edition...

Meet the Red-breasted Goose: A Vibrant Arctic Traveler

It's that time of year again—our annual Birdorable Bonanza is here! For the next 15 days, we'll be introducing a brand-new Birdorable bird every single day. 🐦✨ Since 2009, Birdorable Bonanzas have been a beloved tradition, showcasing some of the world's most fascinating, adorable, and unique bird species in...

2013 Bonanza Bird #16: Wandering Albatross

Our Bonanza rolls on with the addition of our second Birdorable albatross species. Today's Bonanza bird is the Wandering Albatross. The Wandering Albatross is remarkable for the size of its wings. It has the largest wingspan of any living bird, averaging a...

Introducing the Birdorable King Penguin: Nature's Royalty in Black and White

Today’s new Birdorable is our third “king” before Christmas. Here is our cute cartoon King Penguin! The King Penguin is a very large species of penguin, smaller only than the Emperor Penguin. Adult birds can be recognized by their black and white body...