Is this a house finch song?

April 10, 2018 5:25 PM

Audio clip of birdsong (and traffic) here. North Texas, recorded in our backyard about twenty minutes ago.

I've checked the allaboutbirds.org link to house finch song and it sounds quite similar, but there's just enough difference to make me not 100% sure in IDing it. So I'm wasting an AskMeFi question so someone can tell me yes, it's a house finch.

posted by telophase to Pets & Animals (5 answers total)

I'm going to go with YES! The main reason being, it sounds exactly the same as the CA house finch singing in my back yard right now. I love house finches!
posted by bluesky78987 at 7:05 PM on April 10, 2018

Video of a male house finch in action.

Sounds to me like yes, it's a house finch.
posted by mudpuppie at 9:07 PM on April 10, 2018

It sounds a lot like the house finches I hear in my yard in Missouri, except that it doesn't do the long, sustained note at the end of its song that the ones in my yard tend to do. But I don't think that means it's not a house finch; there's a fair bit of variation in song between individuals in a species, and there are regional styles birds pick up. After several years of listening to my local birds, what I consider really signature about the house finch song is that rusty gate hinge cadence to the warble and your bird definitely has that.
posted by BlueJae at 8:40 AM on April 11, 2018

Yes, it's a house finch. As BlueJae (hi!) says, there can be a bit of regional variation in bird songs.
posted by scrubjay at 9:55 AM on April 11, 2018

Thank you all!
posted by telophase at 11:22 AM on April 11, 2018