horned house finches?
Donna Kossy
like little feathery horns. They appear to be house finches in every other
respect.
Has anyone else seen this? Are they immature finches? A sub-species? Or
are they just a little unkempt?
--
Donna Kossy (dko...@teleport.com)
The Kooks Museum
PO Box 86663
Portland, Oregon 97286
U.S.A.
Sharon Allsup
Sounds like fledgling house finches. Every house finch I've raised has
had a little 'corona' of down wisplets on their head long after the rest
of the feathers come out. Other than that, they looked identical to a
female house finch.
It made for some darling pictures. If someone wants to scan it in I can
send a couple of shots (FEED ME SEYMOUR!!!) showing the little antennae.
Gary Carter
>like little feathery horns. They appear to be house finches in every other
>respect.
I have seen these little critters. I thought they were immature house finches
when I first saw them last week. Shortly after I saw them it was confirmed
when I saw one being fed by it's mother.
Gary Carter / Roanokw, VA
a...@acpub.duke.edu
>From: dko...@teleport.com (Donna Kossy)
>Subject: horned house finches?
>Date: 23 May 1995 23:23:25 GMT
>On several occasions I've seen birds with little tufts on their heads,
>like little feathery horns. They appear to be house finches in every other
>respect.
>Has anyone else seen this? Are they immature finches? A sub-species? Or
>are they just a little unkempt?
Recently fledged ho-fi's, in my experience. Shows them for the little devils
they are... ;->
Anne
Joe Morlan
> On several occasions I've seen birds with little tufts on their heads,
> like little feathery horns. They appear to be house finches in every other
> respect.
>
> Has anyone else seen this? Are they immature finches? A sub-species? Or
> are they just a little unkempt?
They are juvenile house finches recently fledged from the nest. The
feathery horns are sometimes called "stipes."
----------
Joe Morlan
Albany, CA
jmo...@slip.net
Robert R Brock
: In article <dkossy-2305...@ip-pdx1-08.teleport.com> dko...@teleport.com (Donna Kossy) writes:
: >From: dko...@teleport.com (Donna Kossy)
: >Subject: horned house finches?
: >Date: 23 May 1995 23:23:25 GMT
: >On several occasions I've seen birds with little tufts on their heads,
: >like little feathery horns. They appear to be house finches in every other
: >respect.
: >Has anyone else seen this? Are they immature finches? A sub-species? Or
: >are they just a little unkempt?
: Recently fledged ho-fi's, in my experience. Shows them for the little devils
: they are... ;->
: Anne
I've also been told, by a gvernment "expert", that they were fledgling
hose finches. Then I asked him to explain why they were larger than the
alleged parents. He ignored me.
Bob
Gary L. Hewitt
Robert R Brock <bro...@selway.umt.edu> wrote:
>
>I've also been told, by a gvernment "expert", that they were fledgling
>hose finches. Then I asked him to explain why they were larger than the
>alleged parents. He ignored me.
A lot of young birds are larger than their parents a few days after
they fledge (some even before they fledge -- swallows usually outweigh
their parents at fledging). Think about it: two birds, the first can
feed itself for the most part, and is also being fed by its parent; the
second has to feed not only itself but its offspring, too. It won't
take long before the parent weighs less than the child!
Gary
--
Gary L. Hewitt
glhe...@phoenix.princeton.edu
a...@acpub.duke.edu
>From: bro...@selway.umt.edu (Robert R Brock)
>Subject: Re: horned house finches?
>Date: 31 May 1995 15:52:13 GMT
>a...@acpub.duke.edu wrote:
>: In article <dkossy-2305...@ip-pdx1-08.teleport.com> dko...@teleport.com (Donna Kossy) writes:
>: >From: dko...@teleport.com (Donna Kossy)
>: >Subject: horned house finches?
>: >Date: 23 May 1995 23:23:25 GMT
>: >On several occasions I've seen birds with little tufts on their heads,
>: >like little feathery horns. They appear to be house finches in every other
>: >respect.
>: >Has anyone else seen this? Are they immature finches? A sub-species? Or
>: >are they just a little unkempt?
>: Recently fledged ho-fi's, in my experience. Shows them for the little devils
>: they are... ;->
>: Anne
>I've also been told, by a gvernment "expert", that they were fledgling
>hose finches. Then I asked him to explain why they were larger than the
>alleged parents. He ignored me.
>Bob
Well, I've seen them being fed by their parents countless times; nor have I
ever seen any other birds with these little tufts. Plus they cry and
wing-flutter like fledglings. Larger? Unless they were side-by-side that's a
pretty tough call to make; and if they were close together that only further
supports them being ho-fis. ;-> Same size as the parents, OTOH, is perfectly
normal. Maybe the one you saw was puffed up or something.
awb
Sharon Allsup
: >like little feathery horns. They appear to be house finches in every other
: >respect.
: >Has anyone else seen this? Are they immature finches? A sub-species? Or
: >are they just a little unkempt?
: Recently fledged ho-fi's, in my experience. Shows them for the little devils
: they are... ;->
> I've also been told, by a gvernment "expert", that they were fledgling
> hose finches. Then I asked him to explain why they were larger than the
> alleged parents. He ignored me.
Recent fledglings can look larger than the parents. While in the nest,
and for the while immediately after fledging, they may be a good deal
plumper due to, basically, having been stuffed full of food with no
exercise for some time and there's fat buildup even after considering
the caloric requirements of a rapidly growing chick.
Once they start flying about in earnest, they slim down quite rapidly.
The layer of baby fat burns up as they exercise and are weaned by the
parents. I've seen this personally, with nestlings raised in rehab.
The slim-down can be 30% or more of the birds pre-fledging weight (but
usually is a *lot* less).
A less obvious way is that most of the youngers don't have nice sleek
feathers. The body feathers tend to fluff out a bit more, as do the
head feathers. I have a set of photos of chicks about 4 weeks apart;
the younger one looks unkempt by comparison, the older shot is slender.
RE: Weight gain again -
Some species will gape when stimulated by the presence of the adult,
whether or not they actually need food or are hungry. These chicks
will end up with more food than those whose parents wean them off
immediately, because they are both eating on their own when hungry
and getting extra food from the parents.
Donna Kossy
Thanks for all the information on fledgling house finches. I've taken to
watching the little "devils" more closely and they are endearingly slow
and clumsy. (We also have some fledgling scrub jays that use our bird bath
regularly who are slow and clumsy.)
Anyway, now that that mystery is settled, I wonder:
1. Do any other species' fledglings have the little horns?
2. What purpose (if any) do the little horns serve?
DJK