This year, if not for a cold that kept me in the house, I might have heard my earliest house finch full mating song ever! (My fellow birding friend Sandra heard one two days earlier. I was so jealous.) As soon as I was well enough, I got out for a good long walk, keeping my ears open. I was a little disappointed when I was almost back home because I hadn’t heard any house finches at all. And then, I rounded the corner near my house, and I heard one. There, sitting in the crabapple tree in my front yard, was a lovely male house finch, singing his little heart out!
And this year, the winning date is exactly the same as last year (!)
Jan 3!
As with last year, we’ve had pretty warm weather for this time of winter, and I wonder if that is what spurs these guys to start wooing the girls so early.
Here are my results from the past few years:
2011: Jan 3
2010: Jan 19
2009: Jan 12
2008: Jan 8
2007: Jan 15
2006: Jan 15
2005: Jan 23
January 11, 2012 at 12:27 pm
I heard the first one today (1/11), but we were out of town until Sunday, so I could have missed something. He was sitting on our railing, getting pelted with driving snow, in 20 degree weather. Silly bird!
I’m wondering if it has anything to do with how many hours of daylight we get. My hens lay according to day length (which is why we have a light bulb in their coop–it fools them into laying all winter). Birds migrate according to day length. Why not sing?
January 11, 2012 at 12:52 pm
That makes some sense except that this seems to be happening earlier and earlier (and not just by my non-scientific observations). So….day length (or hours of daylight) at this of year isn’t changing, so it seems there must be other variables. Sounds like your bird was really proving himself! No “I’ll just come out and sing when the weather is nice” for him!