Talk:House finch

Whether the male or the female is the primary feeder of the baby bird

In "Breeding" paragraph 2, there is the statement,

"...and the male is the primary feeder of the fledgelings..."

But in paragraph 3, it is unequivocally stated,

"The female always feeds the young..."

Which is true? While I was hand-feeding a baby house finch that fell from the nest, I was unable to tell from this article if it was safe to return it to the nest when only the father was alive and present. It may be helpful to others to have the answer as well.

Untitled

Just a possible suggestion, considering the amount of further reading given, either some should be removed, or it should be sectioned into aspects of C. mexicanus's ecology etc. George-E 22:01, 19 May 2007 (UTC)

Date of introduction into Hawaii

The date of introduction into Hawaii may not have been 1870. The source of the 1870 date appears to be Bishop Museum Occasional Papers, Volume 10(9). 1933. The exotic birds of Hawaii. Caum, E.L. I don't have a copy, but secondary sources seem indicate that the paper describes house finches as having been introduced before 1870, rather than during 1870. Smptq 20:24, 20 May 2008 (PDT)

I tried to edit accordingly. Please check my work, if you please. Walter Siegmund (talk) 15:10, 21 May 2008 (UTC)

The edits look good, though the best solution here would be to obtain a copy of the paper and confirm that it says what people seem to think it says.Smptq 20:55 21 May 2008 (UTC)

My local research library lacks BMOP prior to volume 26. We'll have to wait for someone who has access to earlier volumes to confirm the content. Walter Siegmund (talk) 17:06, 23 May 2008 (UTC)

Merging multiple citations

If I'm citing a paper more than once, how do I get wikipedia to recognize this, and use a single citation number for all citations of the same paper?Smptq (talk) 14:15, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

I seem to have figured it out. You use a name for the ref tag, and then re-use that name on each subsequent reference. Smptq (talk) 20:31, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

Interactions between House Finches and House Sparrows

I'm finding a much more complex set of interactions with house sparrows in the literature than simple dominance by house finches. Earlier reports discuss the ability of house sparrows to successfully raid house finch nests: "Over forty percent of the eggs laid were ultimate failures, the largest factor in the loss being destruction of the eggs and young by the English Sparrow"[1]. This rate of destruction is much higher than in more recent papers, where only about 20% of nests are lost (and not all to sparrows). However, the expansion of the house finch in eastern North America clearly resulted in a drop in the sparrow population. I'd love to have some simple nice easy way to describe the interaction. Anybody got a better way to describe what's going on than we currently do? Smptq (talk) 01:43, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

needs revision, clarity

"These birds are mainly permanent residents"--huh? What does this mean? "permanent residents" of WHERE? This (and likely other sections) needs to be cleaned up/clarified. Wikipedia is an INTERNATIONAL resource; it should not be U.S.-centric. Also, do you mean "nonmigratory"? If so, that term should be used instead. I'm not a bird expert, but I'm just pointing out that this article needs to be reviewed for clarity. philiptdotcom (talk) 23:32, 27 November 2011 (UTC)

The House Finch is mostly permanently resident throughout its range, in North America, as I've clarified. Some House Finches migrate, so we'd have to say "mostly non-migratory … but some birds migrate", which doesn't seem clearer than "mainly permanent residents" to me, besides being poorer style, emphasising what other birds do that they don't do. —innotata 15:50, 28 November 2011 (UTC)

Red House Finch of Pennsylvania Spirit Animal Meaning

Associations for this variation of finch, often noted by its slightly more shallow degree split in its tail, include: During times of heavy emotion and negativity, a signal to stop for a moment and allow yourself to release whatever thinking or emotional responses that are not serving you at that moment.

Lightness, feeling safe and at peace, spirituality in whatever its various forms may register for you, and a reminder that anything you feel you may have lost from hardships in the past will be replaced through the positive changes soon that are yet to come. JaneLouise0110 (talk) 20:14, 1 July 2017 (UTC)