Earlier this year, a pair of House Finches chose the a pine cone wreath hanging outside our front door for their nest.
One day a Starling attacked:
There’s a Youtube video of the action following those pictures:
Ms. Finch suffered a peck to the head raising a few feathers into a small topknot, but seemed otherwise undamaged. The eggs survived unscathed and a month later they fledged a quartet of new finches:
Yes, they’re surrounded by a ring of bird crap: finch chicks can aim and fire overboard, but they don’t have much range.
The same finch pair abandoned their second nest after a Brown-headed Cowbird added an egg and punctured both Finch eggs:
Their third attempt failed after four eggs when a Cowbird added a fifth:
A few days after that picture, something tore that nest apart and destroyed all the eggs:
The scattered feathers suggest a major battle with severe injuries.
Three nesting attempts produced only four fledglings: a bad year for those two finches.
The Smell of Molten Projects in the Morning 
Comments
2 responses to “House Finch Nesting Attempts”
Cowbirds are the exact opposite of an endangered species, here in Texas. The government will actually pay a bounty for them as they displace native species. I have a friend who gets an agricultural tax exemption on his land because he has a bunch of cobird traps set up.
Although birds can’t count very well, removing the cowbird egg seems to trigger a “something is not right” reflex and they abandon the nest. Apparently adding an egg doesn’t do the same thing. I do not profess to understand how birds work, so I’ve resigned myself to not meddling in their affairs.
They’re just trying to make a living, like everybody else, but we don’t have to like it. :grin: