This week's featured bird is a little brown job found at most North American birdfeeders: the house finch. These are perky, curious birds with overall brown plumage, and the males have bold red on their foreheads, chest, chin and rump. Females are plainer, but they can often be more aggressive at feeders, making them just as interesting to watch. With an overall population estimated as high as 1 billion birds, it's very likely you've had house finches in your yard.

Unfortunately, these birds are highly susceptible to mycoplasmal conjunctivitis, or house finch eye disease. This illness causes the bird's eyes to swell or crust over, and they suffer respiratory distress. This is a highly communicable disease among birds but is not transmitted to humans - nonetheless, if you see a sick bird at your feeders, be cautious and clean your feeders well to help protect the rest of your flock.

Do you have house finches at your feeders? Share your sightings in the comments!

House Finch Pair
Photo © Larry Hennessy

Bird of the Week: House Finch originally appeared on About.com Birding / Wild Birds on Thursday, February 4th, 2010 at 11:04:43.

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