Adults Acting Like Children

When I heard the “feed-me” call, I recognized it as the begging cry of fledgling Purple Finches. Persistent and seemingly never-ending, the “feed-me, feed-me, feed-me” was coming from the area most frequented by these pretty finches.

But is was May 20th, WAY too early for young Purple Finches to be emerging from a nest. I had a suspicion about the source of the call and had to seek it out. I’d just seen full grown Blue Jays in early May acting like children - wing quivering and begging - but in this case, to form a pair bond between birds. I've seen and heard it with chickadees as well - kid-like behavior exhibited well before young birds are expected to fledge.

I followed the “feed-me, feed-me” solo halfway up the tree and saw a clearly adult male Purple Finch. At this time of year, only an adult male is that beautiful cranberry color all over - no young finches have earned those colors yet. And off on a nearby branch was an apparent female purply. I say “apparent” because at this time of year, last year’s males aren’t cranberry either. They’ll molt into their colorful plumage this fall.

The beautiful male was wooing a mate, crouching with shoulders low, rear end up, beak up, and wings a-fluttering. And vocalizing with that incessant “feed-me” call I had typically associated with their young.

It was beautiful to watch and listen to this pretty male serenading his girl. He had her attention but sometimes you have to work hard to get the things you want. She took off, with her amorous suitor following behind.

Comments

[Nicolette Marshall]

The sounds of birds are quite soothing to me. We live in northern Idaho and right now we have a lot of red robins cruising around. Between the robins and the quails we have, I just love listening to them. My favorite time is in the morning. I enjoyed reading your post. I look forward to reading some more :)

[The Zen Birdfeeder]

Tara, my guess is that you have a House Finch. Check it out: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/House_Finch/

[The Zen Birdfeeder]

Joyce, you're a great observer! Keep up the good work!

[Tara]

These pictures make me wonder. I saw two birds at my feeder, both of them look like sparrows, except one of them has very distinct patches of bright red - it’s head and parts of its body. I thought it was perhaps born of a cross with a cardinal. But are they both finches?

[Joyce Conley]

Beautiful! So much to learn by just listening...