House finches are the perfect urban bird. They would willingly trade an empty lot filled with grasses and bushes and trees for a nice new house with a bird feeder. They are fond (understatement) of ...

Zebra finches don’t just mimic sounds—they understand them, revealing surprising insights into animal communication and cognition.

Zebra finches have a more complex way of communicating than previously thought. A new study published in the journal Science found that the sociable songbird does not just recognize and organize ...

Our last column focused on Juncos. This week, we will focus in a lesser manner on two other feeder birds, the black-capped chickadee and the more recent addition, the house finch. Let us begin with ...

One rainy morning a week ago, I hear a beautiful bird song that I cannot quite identify. It’s longish, sweet and melodic. From in the bedroom, I glance over at the feeders and there’s the usual ...

Like humans who can instantly tell which friend or relative is calling by the timbre of the person's voice, zebra finches have a near-human capacity for language mapping. If songbirds could appear on ...

House finches show up at bird feeders all year, but on most visits, their plumage is hardly eye-catching. They have dense brown streaking on the underside and a robust conical beak. Both males and ...

A classic bird identification challenge is separating House from Cassin’s Finches. They look quite similar but careful study will reveal details to confirm the ID. Finches are notoriously irruptive, ...

Don’t take the birds in your backyard for granted. Beyond eating bugs or invasive plant seeds, backyard birds provide people with joy and wonder, said Geoff LeBaron, Christmas Bird Count director for ...

A Purple Finch in the middle of molting makes for a strange picture but is an essential part of the bird's life.