Real Estate Hunting by House Finch Couple

House Finch
 Pencil and watercolor on Handbook watercolor journal 8 in x 8 in

 This is a long post. Four years ago, we hung a wreath in our front door. A couple of Robin built a nest on it. After the Robin and babies were gone, I cleaned and stored the wreath to hang it next year, I thought the nest built by real birds was a beautiful addition to the wreath and I couldn’t throw it away. Well, I didn’t hung the wreath until this year in our backyard. I knew most birds don’t use other nest so it was intended to be purely ornamental. 

The loud sound of a bird’s song caught our attention a couple of weeks ago. It was definitely very close. We happened to spot a House Finch male which has came to inspect the nest multiple times. Without failing a day, it comes around 1:00 pm to step on it and sing very loud. I have watched him with my binoculars, not that the nest is very far, it’s just few yards away but I don’t want to scare the bird away. When it sings, it barely moves the bill, most of the movement happens under the bill, which is the the equivalent of the human throat. 

After a week or so, a female joined the male, she came less often to the nest. The inspections she did just lasted few seconds. Today I finally saw the female what seems to be putting light materials in the nest. Is she decorating it? The couple is not settled in the nest yet. It seems like it is a vacation home for them. They visit but they are not settled there. 

I’d like to think they will use the nest, although it is big, remember it was built by Robin which is a bigger bird; after all, House Finch is one the few birds which are known to reuse other bird’s nests. I have my fingers crossed for this wreath to offer a home to birds for second time. That’s my wish on this first day of Spring.

UPDATE:  Five weeks has passed since I published this post. The couple has settled and is raising four chicks out of five eggs. Romina y Jacinto have been working hard. We had two nights with temperatures below freezing and Romina successfully protected the chicks. Now they’re under the rush to feed these fast growing chicks. Romina feeds the chicks and for that sometimes she spread her legs in awkward positions to reach all the chicks, like a gymnast. Jacinto has provided most of the food and distributes it equally among the chicks, even Romina opens her beak to get food from him but Jacinto feeds her only occasionally, it’s not enough for her so Romina leaves the nest to get food for herself and the chicks. Then something I have never seen happened. Right after Jacinto fed the chicks, two of them raised their rear ends aiming to the edge of the nest and pooped. 

They instinctively poop outside of their for now home. Jacinto happed to be there, he picked up one of the excrement and flew away from the nest carrying it in its beak. What a clean family.

It’s getting tight there, Romina wants to cover her chicks with her body but the chicks are so restless, they stretch their neck away from Romina, they want a taste of the world.