Saturday, July 07, 2018

Napa nest 8.

This is the second set of chicks this spring for one very busy house finch mother.  Right next to my front door, balanced on the top of a pair of outdoor lights, the nest of the Haemorhous mexicanus is looking a little worse for wear.  The four, fluffy chicks, huddled together in the nest, don't seem to care about the droppings accumulating around the edge of their weed, grass and horsehair-lined penthouse, so I suppose I shouldn't let it bother me either.  Both Vinomaker and I have stopped using the front door, as much as we normally would, so as to not unduly disturb the materfamilias in the raising of her brood.  I just love having baby critters around Vinoland.

3 comments:

New Hampshire Wineman said...

I guess the parents are busy, usually song birds 'clean up' the fecal sacs.
A friend of mine, doctor Perry, his wife was the first to photographically prove that House finches had expanded their range into NH. This was in the early 1970s.

Thud said...

They look like mini punk rockers.

Vinogirl said...

NHW: It seems as the chicks get bigger (their poops probably do too), the mother is less inclined to dispose of the droppings properly.
I read about them being sold in NY as 'Hollywood Finches' (illegally); not too much of a hop, skip and a jump of the imagination in figuring out how they then spread into the other northeastern states.

Thud: They are! Their nest is right outside my window, so they have been listening to the Ramones their entire lives - all 2 weeks of it!