The House Finch Feeding Preferences
House Finches are well known as vegetarians. While other birds tend to change their feeding preferences with the varying seasons, the House Finch can be relied on to stay the same when it comes to their food. The natural diet of a House Finch mainly consists of plant food – so you have a lot to work on from there. However, there are times when House Finches will eat insects (just a few, mind you). They will also feed these insects to their young during spring. Yet the fact remains that House Finches are easy to feed and will not starve if insects were lacking.
House Finches, being the vegetarians that they are, will primarily eat grasses, grains, seeds, buds, and fruits. As with most other living creatures, House Finches have their own favorites. They tend to lean towards sunflower seeds, thistle seeds, and canary seeds. As for fruits, they just love mulberries and cherries. So if you have these plants in your backyard, you will definitely see your fair share of House Finches feeding on them.
House Finches take care of their young very well. As mentioned earlier, it is not amiss to see the parents feeding their young House Finches some insects and larvae during spring. However, the more common sight would be the parent House Finch feeding the baby House Finches seeds which they actually regurgitate into the younglings’ mouth.
House Finches are known to be foragers. That is, they will scour their surroundings – on the ground – for suitable food for both the parents and the baby House Finches. More than the ground, though, House Finches will also hop from tree to tree, bush to bush, to find food.
If you want to attract House Finches to your feeder or to your birdhouse, you can actually work with most any kind of food. As mentioned earlier, House Finches are used to people and are quite easy to please. In the western part of North America, House Finches would be attracted by a wide range of feeds. This includes suet, most any type of bird seed, most any type of fruits, nectar, and even bread crumbs. The eastern House Finches on the other hand would be more attracted by birdseed, sunflower seeds, thistle, white proso millet, and canary seeds. To be more specific, you can also use black sunflower oil seeds to attract House Finches to your feeder. Another important thing is to have a source of fresh water.
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