Expert: Julia Booth - 4/24/2009

Question
QUESTION: Some birds have been nesting on our door and we're trying to figure out what type of birds they are. They were nesting from early-mid March until now. I haven't seen the male recently (he's reddish/brown) but I can describe things about the female to you. She's built a nest on the wreath on our door. It's made of twigs, a few leaves, and down. It's very long, but not too wide. She's small, but her beak seems big. Short of like a parrots but without the curve. There are four, small, blue eggs in her nest. We see her almost all the time since her eggs are on our door. She's brown/beige/gray and when she perches, she clings to the branch or nest or whatever. We're around DC. We appreciate any help you can give us, and any advice on when the eggs hatch (should we avoid the door, put seeds out, dig for worms, ect). Thank you!

ANSWER: It sounds like a House Finch, at least by the color and description. They're famous for nesting in inconvenient places. I doubt you're going to be able to avoid the door. But if you can limit the traffic there, that would be helpful. You won't have to do anything for the mom and dad. Unlike with some other species, both parents will feed the babies. The eggs will take about 14 days to hatch. Once they do, the babies will take about 14 days to be ready to fledge, or leave the nest. It will all happen very fast.

If you want a more definite ID, take a picture of mom or the eggs and email it to me. Even a cell phone image will do.

Hope this helps you,

Julia

Juliabohemian@aol.com

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks for the reply! I was trying to do a bit of research myself, and I thought they looked like house finches. Dad's back too, so I'll attach a picture of both adults (I don't have any pictures of the eggs yet) The eggs have been on the door for almost two weeks, so we're expecting them to hatch any day now. And we're going to be going in through the garage door as often as we can so they're more comfortable. Here's the picture and thanks!

ANSWER: I honestly couldn't tell you from that image, whether or not that's a House Finch. It actually looks too big to be one. But the image could be misleading. I'd have better luck with a picture of the nest and eggs.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Sorry for the late reply, but the internet's been down. They hatched yesterday morning! We know for sure one of the eggs didn't hatch out of the four, and we can see two baby birds, but we don't know about the last egg/possible bird. I'll attach a picture of the two babies and the egg so you can confirm what type of bird it is. Thanks!

Answer
I cannot say with 100% certainty, at this stage. But those look like House finches to me. Often there are more babies in the nest than you think, because they are on top of one another.

Send me another image in 5-7 days and I can give you a more definite ID.


Julia