Long-time readers of my blog may remember the flocks of House Finches that visited our yard about 10 years ago.  They flocked to our feeders, inspired our indoor cats to spend many hours at the windows, and ultimately were a big part of our family becoming the birdbrains that we are today.

Yet several of the birds developed eye disease, or conjunctivitis, where their eyes became swollen shut.  It’s heartbreaking to see this and there’s so little you can do to help your feathered friends, other than  keeping your feeders clean and offering food.  Our House Finch numbers declined and we no longer saw them regularly in the backyard, although I’ve seen evidence of them nesting in the neighborhood over the years.

So I was very happy to see a pair of them fly in and hang out in my cape honeysuckle over my bird blind…

The male House Finch is brown and red.  His songs are so cheerful and pretty!  He’s one of the first birds I remember finding by ear instead of by sight as I was first learning to bird. Here he posed on some dead beaches at the top of my vine.

The female is a pale brown with no red.  Why do the male birds get all the flashy feather good luck?  The females are just as pretty in their own right.

I’ve seen at least two males and two females in the yard in the last two weeks, so I hope they decide to nest nearby and I certainly hope they continue to visit the yard!