When the flamingo first molted in its new found freedom, and the dull drab feathers fell out, pigments contained in its Great Salt lake diet resulted in a new plumage of brilliant hue. The plumage color of an individual male house finch varies from year to year dependent on specific carotenoid pigments contained in the food it consumes during the period of molting. The short conical finch bill is adept at crushing seeds. Thistle, dandelion, and sunflower seeds are favorites. A bird with shades of yellow plumage results from a diet lacking in the proper color producing pigments when the new feathers are being grown.
Many finches have pleasing songs.
Today we share our human communities with one of those songsters. To those attuned to backyard sounds of nature, the riving up of the house finch courting song with all its energy and exuberance as it stakes out its nesting territory among us is as much a part of the sensual rites of spring as the blooming of the daffodils. Copyright 2000, The Salt Lake Tribune All material found on Utah Bound is copyrighted The Salt Lake Tribune and associated news services. No material may be reproduced or reused without explicit permission from The Salt Lake Tribune.