Sometimes I think there is something seriously wrong with me. This goes beyond my normal nature inflicted maladies. For example, whenever I travel somewhere I notice something different about incredibly common things. For example, I am writing this column while I am in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, the gateway to the Great Smoky Mountains. I am here to speak at a wildlife conference and of course take a couple of days to slip away and do some photography. On one of my days away from the conference I was set up to photograph some Bluebirds when a male House Finch landed in front of me.

About a millisecond after I started photographing the House Finch I noticed how different it looks from the House Finches in my home state of Minnesota. His red plumage was more pronounced and his black streaking was more defined. Also its brown cap was not as well defined as I would expect it to be. I would say that over all it looks 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 started to do a little research into the differences I was seeing in the House Finch. Low and behold there is a documented difference. Here is what I found.

But first, let’s look at the little history of this oh so common bird. Originally the House Finch was found only in the southwestern states and Mexico. In the early 1900’s, thousands of these birds were captured and sold all over the eastern half of the country under the name of Hollywood Finches. In the 1940’s enforcement of songbird regulations were increased and bird owners and dealers all over the country released their birds into the wild to avoid prosecution. These newly released birds found each other and started to reproduce. By the 1960’s and 70’s they had colonized most of the eastern half of the country and by the 1980’s and 90’s had started to reach the northern states.

Backyard bird feeders all over the eastern half of the country were suddenly hosting dozens of these colorful birds and they were quickly on their way to becoming the most numerous bird that visits birdfeeders. They adapted extremely well to their new eastern homeland and their ability to reproduce rapidly was amazing with young birds reproducing the first spring after they are born and, on average, nesting three times each season. Like a wave the House Finch swept across the eastern and central part of the country meeting up with their natural range relatives in the west in just 30-40 years.

Along with the massive range change came a morphological change. House Finch males in the east have become more grayish brown and dusky red. Birds in the northern states were even less red and often showing just a tinge of red. In addition to the color change, House Finches in the east and north have shorter wings and tails, along with larger bills and significantly shorter legs and toes than their western relatives.

It is thought that the body size and shape changes came from adapting to feeding at bird feeders. There are more people with backyard feeding stations in the eastern half of the country and increased feeding opportunities has lead to the changes in the body size and shape. They have shorter wings and tails because they don’t need to fly as far and the larger bill is to cope with black oil sunflower seeds which is the most commonly offered foods in most feeders. Or so the theory goes.

So to summarize. The House Finch males in the southwest have the most vivid color and are larger with the eastern birds being duller and smaller while the northern birds have least amount of color of them all.