A bird obsession: Part 2—The House Finch

On Christmas Eve, my Bird Buddy magically started taking videos in addition to the still shots like these. Initially I was very happy to watch the 1- to 2-minute little movies, but now that I am getting 10 or more videos a day, it is getting less interesting. 

It takes a lot of time to go through them all, and most of them have a lot of dead space. There are plenty of great views of the back of my house, with the feeder swaying in the breeze and the birds perched just out of range. I still have to watch to the end though, just in case my amusing woodpeckers show up.

Considering this was part of a Kickstarter campaign where a lot of folks from around the world paid upfront for a product that might never have been completed, I think the Bird Buddy team has done a good job of responding to complaints. 

My serial number is 00000004517. I think I was one of the earliest backers, and I was also one of the lucky 5% who got to test the videos before they were released to everyone. With time, I think the BB folks will work out the kinks and make the videos optional. I liked it better when I was getting more stills. 

There are at least 3 pairs of these house finches, and according to the BB, there have been 551 visits from them—by far my most frequent visitor. It wasn't until I got a close-up look at them that I could tell they were house finches, and not purple finches. The colorful males look very much like purples, until you can see their striped bellies.

And the goldfinches are still here, even after the snow and the cold. The house and goldfinches, and the blue jays are so far the best posers. They bring all 3 of the primary colors—red yellow and blue—to my little neck of the woods. It will be interesting to see what other species show up as the weather gets warmer.