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Birds do not act aggressively toward predators within their territory; their only reaction is alarm calling. Predators include snakes, weasels, squirrels, and blue jays, which may destroy eggs or kill young, and hawks and cats, which pose a threat to both young and adults. The oldest known American goldfinch was 10 years and 5 months old. [26]
The family Fringillidae are the "true" finches. The International Ornithological Committee (IOC) recognizes these 239 species in the family, distributed among three subfamilies and 50 genera. Confusingly, only 79 of the species include "finch" in their common names, and several other families include species called finches.
Bright yellow and red carotenoid pigments are commonplace in this family, and thus blue structural colours are rather rare, as the yellow pigments turn the blue color into green. Many, but by no means all true finches have strong sexual dichromatism, the females typically lacking the bright carotenoid markings of males. [1]
The light birds are termed hesperophilus (the green-backed goldfinch) and are most common in the far western U.S. and northwestern Mexico. [ 8 ] The zone in which both light and dark males occur on a regular basis is broadest in the north and extends across the width of the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Madre Occidental ranges.
The house finch is a moderate-sized finch, 12.5 to 15 cm (5 to 6 in) long, with a wingspan of 20 to 25 cm (8 to 10 in). Body mass can vary from 16 to 27 g (9 ⁄ 16 to 15 ⁄ 16 oz), with an average weight of 21 g (3 ⁄ 4 oz).
Northernmost breeding birds migrate south, as do some birds throughout the range of the species; many birds are permanent residents, however. Some non-breeding birds winter as far south as central interior Mexico. These birds forage in trees, sometimes in ground vegetation. They mainly eat seeds, buds and berries, some insects. When not nesting ...
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The male is bright yellow with an orange crown which distinguishes it from most other yellow finches (the exception being the orange-fronted yellow finch).The females are more difficult to identify and are usually just a slightly duller version of the male, but in the southern subspecies S. f. pelzelni they are olive-brown with heavy dark streaks.