House Finch, Haemorhous mexicanus

Photographs taken within a residential community in Del Mar, California, February 2022. Photographs courtesy of Carol Snow, Del Mar, California. Identifications courtesy of Bob Behrstock, Hereford, Arizona (naturewideimages.com).

House Finch, Haemorphous mexicanus ruberrimus, Female. Photograph taken in the greater Los Cabos area, Baja California Sur, March 2016. Photograph courtesy of Carol Snow, Del Mar, California.

House Finch, Haemorphous mexicanus ruberrimus, Male. Photograph taken in the greater Del Mar area, San Diego, California Sur, March 2022. Photograph courtesy of Carol Snow, Del Mar, California.

House Finch, Haemorphous mexicanus sonoriensis, Male. Photograph taken within a residential community in Alamos, Sonora, January 2017. Photograph and identification courtesy of David F Smith, Alamos, Sonora.

House Finch, Haemorphous mexicanus ruberrimus, Female and Male. Photograph taken in the greater Del Mar area, San Diego, California Sur, March 2022. Photograph courtesy of Carol Snow, Del Mar, California.

Background and Identification

The House Finch, Haemorhous mexicanus frontalis, Haemorhous mexicanus ruberrimus, and Haemorhous mexicanus sonoriensis, are three of eleven species of House Finch, with all eleven being found in Mexico. They are a member of the Fringillidae Family of Finches, Euphonias, and Allies, which has two hundred twenty-nine members placed in forty-nine genera, and one of three global species of the Haemorphous Genus. They are known in Mexico as camachuelo mexicano.

The House Finch are small in stature. They are sexually dimorphic with males having bright red heads and females being a uniform brown. They are an overall drab gray-brown with heavy streaking below with a plain head pattern. Their bills are various shades of gray, their iris is a deep brown and their legs and feet are dark brown.

Habitat and Geographical Range

The House Finch are found in all types of landscapes and climates from the edges of northern taiga to ocean coasts to metropolitan areas at elevations up to 3,500 m (11,500 feet). They feed on buds, flowers, fruits, leaves and seeds. They have life spans of up to twelve years.

The House Finch in found throughout Mexico with the exception that they are absent from the coastal regions of Nayarit south to Guatemala and from south of Veracruz and Oaxaca. The frontalis subspecies is found in Northwest Mexico; the ruberrimus subspecies is found in southern Baja California Sur; and, the sonoriensis subspecies is found from Sonora to southwest Chihuahua to northern Sinaloa. They are generally non-migratory and year-round residents.

Common Misidentifications

Conservation Perspective

From a conservation perspective the House Finch is currently considered to be of Least Concern, with stable and widely expanding, widely distributed populations which is attributed to human developments. In 1994 their populations were dramatically reduced by an outbreak of mycoplasmosis but they have quickly recovered. They are considered to be highly invasive with great adaptability and are one of North America’s best studied birds. In Mexico, large numbers are legally trapped and sold as cage birds.