House Finch
Haemorhous mexicanus
House Finch · Central Park · 26 October 2025
A male House Finch in raspberry-red in Central Park in October, a bird of the dry West that now lives in every town and suburb in the East as well. Every House Finch in the East descends from cage birds released on Long Island in 1940, when a dealer selling them illegally as "Hollywood finches" let them go ahead of a raid.
The intensity and even the hue of a House Finch's colour comes directly from carotenoid pigments in its diet, so redder males are often, quite literally, the better-fed ones. This one is on the raspberry side rather than the brighter orange-red some individuals show.
Birds, insects, plants and other wildlife, mostly from Brooklyn, with some from further afield.
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