House Finches Nest again in 2010

The House Finches came back yet again in 2011 and built their nest in the same wreath - nifty pics/video here!
In late May/2008, some house finches nested in my rain gutter so I installed a webcam and got some nifty pictures/video of it. In 2010, they returned ... but this time, building a nest in a wreath on my front door!

We usually remove the wreath so this does not happen ... but since it has, we have "blocked" access to the front door.
Mom laid 5 eggs and all hatched by April 30th ... and the last baby finch fledged on May 15th. Pictures/video get better
as you scroll down to see how it all unfolded. Also check out a nearby Great Horned Owl Nest and Baby Hummingbirds.

Five big, hungry, and demanding mouths!

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baby house finches canon 7d may 6 c

Remote controlled Canon 7D takes pictures of house finches nesting on my front door

Use the controls to play, step, pause, slow-down, and/or speed-up the animation.
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House Finch sequence apri 15

Two Eggs in the nest on April 14th

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Three Eggs on April 15th - watch video of Momma laying the egg!

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Four Eggs on April 16th - watch video of Momma laying the egg!

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Directly overhead view - the nest is tucked in between the wreath and the door

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And yet another egg (#5) was laid at 7:19AM on April 17th - watch video

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Momma periodically takes off, so then I check the nest, being careful not to touch anything

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Momma returns and checks to make sure all 5 eggs are still there!

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Unfortunately, the webcam doesn't have as good as image quality as the 7D

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I moved the webcam for more of an overhead view

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Momma House Finch turns the eggs

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House Finch sequence apri 16

A side profile of Momma House Finch - mouseover image to see closeup

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Momma House Finch keeping the eggs warm - mouseover image to see the eggs

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Another picture of Momma House Finch on the nest - mouseover image to see her in action

house finch mom april 15th

Daddy brings food to Mom - mouseover to see eat'in - watch the whole sequence - COOL!

house finch mom april 15th

Webcam image of feeding that happens several times a day - watch related video

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Momma Finch turning eggs and expanding the nest - watch related video

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Mouseover image to see the House Finch Egg move by itself - related video

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Momma Finch does a "Beat Down" to Daddy - watch related video
He seems a bit tired of the nagging - can anyone relate?!? ;-)

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House Finch sequence apri 15

Front door opened for the first time in a week to install USB cable
Watch video - this allows 7D to be remotely controlled - stay tuned!

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Momma sitting on eggs on a rainy morning
Watch Dad bring her breakfast - 1400x900 video ... VERY COOL!

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Here's what it looked like from the webcam - watch video and extended version

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A potential predator has noticed the nest - the neighbor's cat! :-(
I saw her on the front porch eyeball'ing the wreath - then she wandered to the back and looked through the kitchen window

baby house finches 23 cat

April 25th: Mom is really tidying up the nest and turning the eggs - watch video

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Dad is still bring food to Momma who is almost full-time on the eggs - watch video

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April 26th: Mom flys away with a worm - watch video - very cool!

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Closeups of Momma Finch plus her saying that was a tasty worm! ;-) watch video

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House Finch sequence mom worm

Here's the bird eating the worm via the webcam - watch video

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Momma Finch checks her eggs - mouseover image to see her in action

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Closeups of Mom keeping the eggs warm

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I've seen (and heard!) the Mom pecking at the eggs twice today
They appear more pock-marked than I remember - could be soon! ;-)

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April 27th: afterwards, I noticed something amiss on one of the egg shells at 2:10PM - mouseover to see closeup

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Baby bird #1 busting outa the shell - watch Canon 7D hi-def video!

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Mom welcomes her first baby bird

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The webcam also caught the action - watch video of it hatching at 2:18PM!

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Mom eats the egg shell (for calcium) and Dad comes by to visit - watch video

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Misc. pictures of the first born House Finch

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April 28th: Baby Bird #2 hatches at 8:12AM - watch video of sibling sleeping on the egg as it pops out!

baby house finch 2 webcam

More work for Mom & Dad with two mouths to feed - watch video of 'em working all day

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High quality image from the 7D of two hungry baby birds - watch 'em eat - another video

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baby house finches 28 two babies 1

April 29th: Baby #3 hatched before dawn ... but look closely at egg #4 - mouseover to see closeup

house finch egg about to break april 29th

Yep, it hatched as I watched it!

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House Finch sequence birth #4

I stuck around to watch baby House Finch #4 hatch from the egg - watch handheld video - very cool!

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Note the finch hairs are still wet/matted

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The other three siblings are a bit stronger when calling for food - all four visible in this HUGE video

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The webcam also caught the birth of baby #3 - watch video

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Mom clears out the egg shells from baby finch #4 - watch video - includes cameraman Alek! ;-)

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Mom and Dad feeding four hungry finches for the umpteenth time today - watch video

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And now there are five mouth to feed - all eggs hatched! - watch video

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Sleeping House Finches ... but they will pop up occasionally - video of 9-year old Kyle checking it out

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May 1st: Dad and Mom feed the five hungry finches - watch video

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May 2nd: Feeding the babies and keeping the nest neat as they get bigger - watch video

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May 3rd: It's getting crowded in the nest - watch video

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Baby Finches try to find space to stretch out and take a nap

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This baby finch appears to be having some sweet dreams - mouseover to see mouth move

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A nearby tree where Momma and Poppa Finch hang out to get a break from the babies

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Poppa Finch with some blue skies behind 'em

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May 4th: Trying to take a nap under Momma Finch - watch video

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The nest is not only crowded, but .. uhhhh ... messy! Video of Mom & Dad on poop patrol - YUK!

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Looking straight down on the nest tucked in the wreath on the front door

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May 5th: Buzz Lightyear makes an appearance on Cinco da Mayo - watch video

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Baby House Finch spreads its wings ... and does something else! ;-)

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Dad flys away as Mom feeds the chicks in this Frame grab from high-speed movie - watch video

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Wide-angle view of the nest on the wreath on the front door

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Not the most beautiful looking birds ... ;-)

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May 6th: Chicks are getting bigger, so moved the webcam - watch video of the different views

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Some pictures from the Canon 7D - they are getting big!

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May 7th: Chicks are non-stop eaters as they keep Mom and Dad busy
watch webcam video and also video from Canon 7D - 1920x1080 version - huge!

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Dad flys away after dropping off food in this video grab

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May 8th: Yet another day of eating - watch video
First time Momma doesn't spend the night on the nest

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Poppa Finch in a nearby tree - mouseover image to see another image

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Momma House Finch also hangs out on the tree - mouseover image to see her look up

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Closeup of Momma Finch

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May 9th: One baby finch is spreading its wings a bit - watch video

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May 10th: Getting pretty darn crowded (and poopy) in the Finch nest

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Five big, hungry, and demanding mouths!

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Mom feeds babies and then leaves - bummer! Also on hi-def video

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House Finch sequence may 10th

Wing flapping as seen from the webcam - watch video

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May 11th: Birds are even bigger, more wing flapping, and nest is "smaller" - watch video

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May 13th: Five Baby Finches "pose" for the photographer - mouseover image to see related shot

house finch nest before after

Side profile of the Baby Finches - mouseover to see what they do when Mom shows up

house finch nest before after

May 13th: Last hi-res pictures of the Finch family before fledging - only Dad is missing

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So the morning of May 14th, I walk out in the early morning to setup the camera gear and I see what I think is Mom on the perched on the edge of the nest. Except she doesn't fly away. So I take a few steps closer until I'm about two feet away as I realize this is one of the chicks ... and then BAMM ... off it flies - first flight! Turns out this was actually the second finch to fledge as its sibling has taken flight about a minute earlier. Here's the time-lapse video from the webcam of 'em fledging.

Baby Finch about to take that really scary looking step off the nest!

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baby house finches 14 fledge a

May 14th: Last image taken by the webcam of all five baby finches - w/Mom even!

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Baby Finch #1 fledged 95 seconds later after spreading its wings here

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Baby Finch #2 fledged 23 seconds later after this shot

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These three baby finches are still in the nest and haven't fledged yet ... but won't be long!
Hidef video of Mom feeding and chirping at 'em and dad also - lots of wing flapping, but no fledging

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Dad and Mom in nearby tree - I didn't see the fledged baby chicks anywhere

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A Golden Finch in the same tree ... nice looking bird!

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Poppa Finch shows his colors

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The Finch parents would often hang out on the rain gutter near the front door to chirp at the chicks

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finch rain gutter 1

Webcam shows lots of wing flapping during the day - watch video

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May 15th: Last Baby Finch Fledges - frame grabs from 60fps video
Video with audio of the fledge - short version - in slomo!

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House Finch fledge sequence

Webcam shows all three finches fledging - watch video

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Last hi-res picture of the solitary baby finch in the nest - then empty!

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Cleaning all the bird poop off the front door - watch video

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Mouseover Image to see before/after of the front door

house finch nest before after

May 16th: Kyle holds the wreath with the House Finch Nest

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The nest was well tucked in on the wreath against the door

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Those five baby finches were in tight quarters ... especially with all the poop! ;-)

house finch nest 16 a

The Finch parents made a few trips to the wreath, even after the nest was gone - watch video

finches come back

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Front Door of my house was blocked to minimize disturbing the house finches

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When I see the finches leave the nest, I'll setup the 7D with remote control
They don't seem fazed at all by the camera/tripod there

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"Lights, Camera, Action!" (light is used rarely)

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Webcam is wireless and allows pan-tilt-zoom ... just wish the image quality was better

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Alternative mounting the Canon 7D with USB connection - safety strap is on hook - lets hope not needed!

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I noticed loud sounds from the webcam and saw the image moving - here's the culprit!

house finches on webcam

Closeup of Pappa Finch perched on the webcam - mouseover to see another image

house finch mom perched webcam

May 6th: Back to using the tripod and added more lights
Using high-speed video mode to capture flying parents

house finches setup two lights tripod

May 15th: Final pictures of the setup after the last baby finch fledged

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Videos from the Canon 7D - LARGE files, but much higher quality with sound - gets better with time: Videos from the webcam - low resolution and no sound: Some misc. observations from spending a lot of time watching these House Finches:
Watch the House Finches live on the webcam now!