House Finches Nest again in 2010

The House Finches came back yet again in 2011 and built their nest in the same wreath - nifty pics/video here!

In late May/2008, some house finches nested in my rain gutter so I installed a webcam and got some nifty pictures/video of it. In 2010, they returned ... but this time, building a nest in a wreath on my front door!

We usually remove the wreath so this does not happen ... but since it has, we have "blocked" access to the front door.
Mom laid 5 eggs and all hatched by April 30th ... and the last baby finch fledged on May 15th. Pictures/video get better
as you scroll down to see how it all unfolded. Also check out a nearby Great Horned Owl Nest and Baby Hummingbirds.

Five big, hungry, and demanding mouths!

Remote controlled Canon 7D takes pictures of house finches nesting on my front door

Use the controls to play, step, pause, slow-down, and/or speed-up the animation.

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Two Eggs in the nest on April 14th

Three Eggs on April 15th - watch video of Momma laying the egg!

Four Eggs on April 16th - watch video of Momma laying the egg!

Directly overhead view - the nest is tucked in between the wreath and the door

And yet another egg (#5) was laid at 7:19AM on April 17th - watch video

Momma periodically takes off, so then I check the nest, being careful not to touch anything

Momma returns and checks to make sure all 5 eggs are still there!

Unfortunately, the webcam doesn't have as good as image quality as the 7D

I moved the webcam for more of an overhead view

Momma House Finch turns the eggs

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A side profile of Momma House Finch - mouseover image to see closeup

Momma House Finch keeping the eggs warm - mouseover image to see the eggs

Another picture of Momma House Finch on the nest - mouseover image to see her in action

Daddy brings food to Mom - mouseover to see eat'in - watch the whole sequence - COOL!

Webcam image of feeding that happens several times a day - watch related video

Momma Finch turning eggs and expanding the nest - watch related video

Mouseover image to see the House Finch Egg move by itself - related video

Momma Finch does a "Beat Down" to Daddy - watch related video
He seems a bit tired of the nagging - can anyone relate?!? ;-)

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Front door opened for the first time in a week to install USB cable
Watch video - this allows 7D to be remotely controlled - stay tuned!

Momma sitting on eggs on a rainy morning
Watch Dad bring her breakfast - 1400x900 video ... VERY COOL!

Here's what it looked like from the webcam - watch video and extended version

A potential predator has noticed the nest - the neighbor's cat! :-(
I saw her on the front porch eyeball'ing the wreath - then she wandered to the back and looked through the kitchen window

April 25th: Mom is really tidying up the nest and turning the eggs - watch video

Dad is still bring food to Momma who is almost full-time on the eggs - watch video

April 26th: Mom flys away with a worm - watch video - very cool!

Closeups of Momma Finch plus her saying that was a tasty worm! ;-) watch video

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Here's the bird eating the worm via the webcam - watch video

Momma Finch checks her eggs - mouseover image to see her in action

Closeups of Mom keeping the eggs warm

I've seen (and heard!) the Mom pecking at the eggs twice today
They appear more pock-marked than I remember - could be soon! ;-)

April 27th: afterwards, I noticed something amiss on one of the egg shells at 2:10PM - mouseover to see closeup

Baby bird #1 busting outa the shell - watch Canon 7D hi-def video!

Mom welcomes her first baby bird

The webcam also caught the action - watch video of it hatching at 2:18PM!

Mom eats the egg shell (for calcium) and Dad comes by to visit - watch video

Misc. pictures of the first born House Finch

April 28th: Baby Bird #2 hatches at 8:12AM - watch video of sibling sleeping on the egg as it pops out!

More work for Mom & Dad with two mouths to feed - watch video of 'em working all day

High quality image from the 7D of two hungry baby birds - watch 'em eat - another video

April 29th: Baby #3 hatched before dawn ... but look closely at egg #4 - mouseover to see closeup

house finch egg about to break april 29th

Yep, it hatched as I watched it!

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I stuck around to watch baby House Finch #4 hatch from the egg - watch handheld video - very cool!

Note the finch hairs are still wet/matted

The other three siblings are a bit stronger when calling for food - all four visible in this HUGE video

The webcam also caught the birth of baby #3 - watch video

Mom clears out the egg shells from baby finch #4 - watch video - includes cameraman Alek! ;-)

Mom and Dad feeding four hungry finches for the umpteenth time today - watch video

And now there are five mouth to feed - all eggs hatched! - watch video

Sleeping House Finches ... but they will pop up occasionally - video of 9-year old Kyle checking it out

May 1st: Dad and Mom feed the five hungry finches - watch video

May 2nd: Feeding the babies and keeping the nest neat as they get bigger - watch video

May 3rd: It's getting crowded in the nest - watch video

Baby Finches try to find space to stretch out and take a nap

This baby finch appears to be having some sweet dreams - mouseover to see mouth move

A nearby tree where Momma and Poppa Finch hang out to get a break from the babies

Poppa Finch with some blue skies behind 'em

May 4th: Trying to take a nap under Momma Finch - watch video

The nest is not only crowded, but .. uhhhh ... messy! Video of Mom & Dad on poop patrol - YUK!

Looking straight down on the nest tucked in the wreath on the front door

May 5th: Buzz Lightyear makes an appearance on Cinco da Mayo - watch video

Baby House Finch spreads its wings ... and does something else! ;-)

Dad flys away as Mom feeds the chicks in this Frame grab from high-speed movie - watch video

Wide-angle view of the nest on the wreath on the front door

Not the most beautiful looking birds ... ;-)

May 6th: Chicks are getting bigger, so moved the webcam - watch video of the different views

Some pictures from the Canon 7D - they are getting big!

May 7th: Chicks are non-stop eaters as they keep Mom and Dad busy
watch webcam video and also video from Canon 7D - 1920x1080 version - huge!

Dad flys away after dropping off food in this video grab

May 8th: Yet another day of eating - watch video
First time Momma doesn't spend the night on the nest

Poppa Finch in a nearby tree - mouseover image to see another image

Momma House Finch also hangs out on the tree - mouseover image to see her look up

Closeup of Momma Finch

May 9th: One baby finch is spreading its wings a bit - watch video

May 10th: Getting pretty darn crowded (and poopy) in the Finch nest

Five big, hungry, and demanding mouths!

Mom feeds babies and then leaves - bummer! Also on hi-def video

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Wing flapping as seen from the webcam - watch video

May 11th: Birds are even bigger, more wing flapping, and nest is "smaller" - watch video

May 13th: Five Baby Finches "pose" for the photographer - mouseover image to see related shot

Side profile of the Baby Finches - mouseover to see what they do when Mom shows up

May 13th: Last hi-res pictures of the Finch family before fledging - only Dad is missing

So the morning of May 14th, I walk out in the early morning to setup the camera gear and I see what I think is Mom on the perched on the edge of the nest. Except she doesn't fly away. So I take a few steps closer until I'm about two feet away as I realize this is one of the chicks ... and then BAMM ... off it flies - first flight! Turns out this was actually the second finch to fledge as its sibling has taken flight about a minute earlier. Here's the time-lapse video from the webcam of 'em fledging.

Baby Finch about to take that really scary looking step off the nest!

May 14th: Last image taken by the webcam of all five baby finches - w/Mom even!

Baby Finch #1 fledged 95 seconds later after spreading its wings here

Baby Finch #2 fledged 23 seconds later after this shot

These three baby finches are still in the nest and haven't fledged yet ... but won't be long!
Hidef video of Mom feeding and chirping at 'em and dad also - lots of wing flapping, but no fledging

Dad and Mom in nearby tree - I didn't see the fledged baby chicks anywhere

A Golden Finch in the same tree ... nice looking bird!

Poppa Finch shows his colors

The Finch parents would often hang out on the rain gutter near the front door to chirp at the chicks

Webcam shows lots of wing flapping during the day - watch video

Videos from the Canon 7D - LARGE files, but much higher quality with sound - gets better with time:

Videos from the webcam - low resolution and no sound:

Some misc. observations from spending a lot of time watching these House Finches:

While I didn't capture egg #1 or #2 on video, eggs #3, #4, and #5 were all laid in the early morning on consecutive days.
Momma was on the eggs almost 7x24, leaving for only short breaks with Daddy bringing her food
Egg #1 hatched in the mid-afternoon, but Eggs #2-5 hatched in the early morning.
All hatched in consecutive days except #3 #4 were the same day.
Incubation period was about 13 days.
Momma quickly removes the empty egg shell, eating most of it, presumably for calcium.
The baby chicks appear almost hairless at birth, but look fuzzy within hours.
Open eyes are visible in a couple of days, as is noise from the chicks.
Once all the eggs are hatched, the Mom spends an increasing time away from the nest during the day.
However, at night, she sleeps on top of the chicks. Unknown where the Dad goes.
The Mom spends a lot of time tidying up the nest ... and eating poop - yes, she really does!
The Mom almost always faces to the left and feeding is usually done from the right side of the nest.
The chicks are quite demanding to get food, but the parents seem to parcel it out fairly.
The nest rapidly gets pretty darn crowded as the baby chicks get bigger.
On the night of May 8th, Momma Finch did not spend the night at the nest - first time.
First sign of baby finch spreading its wings on May 9th
Behavior changed on May 10th as parents would chirp (off camera) to the babies (which really got their attention) in an apparent attempt to encourage them to fly. They would also feed the babies, but then stand-off, making them reach more. Quite a bit of wing movement was seen and I thought one would fledge, but didn't happen.

House Finches Nest again in 2010

Five big, hungry, and demanding mouths!

Remote controlled Canon 7D takes pictures of house finches nesting on my front door

Two Eggs in the nest on April 14th

Three Eggs on April 15th - watch video of Momma laying the egg!

Four Eggs on April 16th - watch video of Momma laying the egg!

Directly overhead view - the nest is tucked in between the wreath and the door

And yet another egg (#5) was laid at 7:19AM on April 17th - watch video

Momma periodically takes off, so then I check the nest, being careful not to touch anything

Momma returns and checks to make sure all 5 eggs are still there!

Unfortunately, the webcam doesn't have as good as image quality as the 7D

I moved the webcam for more of an overhead view

Momma House Finch turns the eggs

A side profile of Momma House Finch - mouseover image to see closeup

Momma House Finch keeping the eggs warm - mouseover image to see the eggs

Another picture of Momma House Finch on the nest - mouseover image to see her in action

Daddy brings food to Mom - mouseover to see eat'in - watch the whole sequence - COOL!

Webcam image of feeding that happens several times a day - watch related video

Momma Finch turning eggs and expanding the nest - watch related video

Mouseover image to see the House Finch Egg move by itself - related video

Momma Finch does a "Beat Down" to Daddy - watch related videoHe seems a bit tired of the nagging - can anyone relate?!? ;-)

Front door opened for the first time in a week to install USB cableWatch video - this allows 7D to be remotely controlled - stay tuned!

Momma sitting on eggs on a rainy morningWatch Dad bring her breakfast - 1400x900 video ... VERY COOL!

Here's what it looked like from the webcam - watch video and extended version

A potential predator has noticed the nest - the neighbor's cat! :-(I saw her on the front porch eyeball'ing the wreath - then she wandered to the back and looked through the kitchen window

April 25th: Mom is really tidying up the nest and turning the eggs - watch video

Dad is still bring food to Momma who is almost full-time on the eggs - watch video

April 26th: Mom flys away with a worm - watch video - very cool!

Closeups of Momma Finch plus her saying that was a tasty worm! ;-) watch video

Here's the bird eating the worm via the webcam - watch video

Momma Finch checks her eggs - mouseover image to see her in action

Closeups of Mom keeping the eggs warm

I've seen (and heard!) the Mom pecking at the eggs twice todayThey appear more pock-marked than I remember - could be soon! ;-)

April 27th: afterwards, I noticed something amiss on one of the egg shells at 2:10PM - mouseover to see closeup

Baby bird #1 busting outa the shell - watch Canon 7D hi-def video!

Mom welcomes her first baby bird

The webcam also caught the action - watch video of it hatching at 2:18PM!

Mom eats the egg shell (for calcium) and Dad comes by to visit - watch video

Misc. pictures of the first born House Finch

April 28th: Baby Bird #2 hatches at 8:12AM - watch video of sibling sleeping on the egg as it pops out!

More work for Mom & Dad with two mouths to feed - watch video of 'em working all day

High quality image from the 7D of two hungry baby birds - watch 'em eat - another video

April 29th: Baby #3 hatched before dawn ... but look closely at egg #4 - mouseover to see closeup

Yep, it hatched as I watched it!

I stuck around to watch baby House Finch #4 hatch from the egg - watch handheld video - very cool!

Note the finch hairs are still wet/matted

The other three siblings are a bit stronger when calling for food - all four visible in this HUGE video

The webcam also caught the birth of baby #3 - watch video

Mom clears out the egg shells from baby finch #4 - watch video - includes cameraman Alek! ;-)

Mom and Dad feeding four hungry finches for the umpteenth time today - watch video

And now there are five mouth to feed - all eggs hatched! - watch video

Sleeping House Finches ... but they will pop up occasionally - video of 9-year old Kyle checking it out

May 1st: Dad and Mom feed the five hungry finches - watch video

May 2nd: Feeding the babies and keeping the nest neat as they get bigger - watch video

May 3rd: It's getting crowded in the nest - watch video

Baby Finches try to find space to stretch out and take a nap

This baby finch appears to be having some sweet dreams - mouseover to see mouth move

A nearby tree where Momma and Poppa Finch hang out to get a break from the babies

Poppa Finch with some blue skies behind 'em

May 4th: Trying to take a nap under Momma Finch - watch video

The nest is not only crowded, but .. uhhhh ... messy! Video of Mom & Dad on poop patrol - YUK!

Looking straight down on the nest tucked in the wreath on the front door

May 5th: Buzz Lightyear makes an appearance on Cinco da Mayo - watch video

Baby House Finch spreads its wings ... and does something else! ;-)

Dad flys away as Mom feeds the chicks in this Frame grab from high-speed movie - watch video

Wide-angle view of the nest on the wreath on the front door

Not the most beautiful looking birds ... ;-)

May 6th: Chicks are getting bigger, so moved the webcam - watch video of the different views

Some pictures from the Canon 7D - they are getting big!

May 7th: Chicks are non-stop eaters as they keep Mom and Dad busywatch webcam video and also video from Canon 7D - 1920x1080 version - huge!

Dad flys away after dropping off food in this video grab

May 8th: Yet another day of eating - watch videoFirst time Momma doesn't spend the night on the nest

Poppa Finch in a nearby tree - mouseover image to see another image

Momma House Finch also hangs out on the tree - mouseover image to see her look up

Closeup of Momma Finch

May 9th: One baby finch is spreading its wings a bit - watch video

May 10th: Getting pretty darn crowded (and poopy) in the Finch nest

Five big, hungry, and demanding mouths!

Mom feeds babies and then leaves - bummer! Also on hi-def video

Wing flapping as seen from the webcam - watch video

Momma Finch does a "Beat Down" to Daddy - watch related video
He seems a bit tired of the nagging - can anyone relate?!? ;-)

Front door opened for the first time in a week to install USB cable
Watch video - this allows 7D to be remotely controlled - stay tuned!

Momma sitting on eggs on a rainy morning
Watch Dad bring her breakfast - 1400x900 video ... VERY COOL!

A potential predator has noticed the nest - the neighbor's cat! :-(
I saw her on the front porch eyeball'ing the wreath - then she wandered to the back and looked through the kitchen window

I've seen (and heard!) the Mom pecking at the eggs twice today
They appear more pock-marked than I remember - could be soon! ;-)

May 7th: Chicks are non-stop eaters as they keep Mom and Dad busy
watch webcam video and also video from Canon 7D - 1920x1080 version - huge!

May 8th: Yet another day of eating - watch video
First time Momma doesn't spend the night on the nest

These three baby finches are still in the nest and haven't fledged yet ... but won't be long!
Hidef video of Mom feeding and chirping at 'em and dad also - lots of wing flapping, but no fledging

May 15th: Last Baby Finch Fledges - frame grabs from 60fps video
Video with audio of the fledge - short version - in slomo!

When I see the finches leave the nest, I'll setup the 7D with remote control
They don't seem fazed at all by the camera/tripod there

May 6th: Back to using the tripod and added more lights
Using high-speed video mode to capture flying parents