Are House Finches a Threat to Bluebirds? Curious Connection Explored

A curious thing happens each year during the bird nesting season - House finches start to really follow bluebirds around. In fact, some hosts have dubbed house finches "bluebird groupies."

If you're a new bluebird host, this influx of house finches getting up close and personal with bluebirds might seem alarming, especially if you've dealt with past house sparrow attacks.

In this video, we not only answer the question of whether house finches are a direct threat to bluebirds, we uncover another concerned that even seasoned bluebird hosts should considered.

Finally, we examine the claim of whether house finches actually drive out the house sparrow population.

RESOURCES:
Nest Hollow Website:
Visit www.nesthollow.com for more information about songbird care, and especially backyard bird conservation. Nest Hollow takes backyard birding to a higher level where we inspire true conservation and stewardship.

Bluebird Playlist:
   • Bluebirds  

Photography and Video Information:
Nest Hollow strives to use its own photos as much as possible. A significant amount of photography and video footage in this video was generated by us.

We want to thank Marla Birk for generously contributing the photo of her finch at the feeder. When we informed her about the eye infection, she took quick action to stop the spread.

A small number of images were purchased through Canva or Shutterstock. We would have loved to have generated these images ourselves, but nature is not always cooperative.

All nature and wildlife images that Nest Hollow generates is done in an ethical manner with a lot of distance in place and or with devices that are not intrusive to wildlife.


REFERENCES
Amonett, S. D. (2020). Transgenerational Effects Of Mycoplasma Gallisepticum Infection In Eastern Bluebirds (Sialia Sialis) (Doctoral dissertation, The University of Mississippi).

Denton, M. X. (2019). Effects of Vertical Transmission of Maternal Antibodies to Mycoplasma Gallisepticum on Growth and Condition of Eastern Bluebird Nestlings (Sialia Sialis).

Dhondt, A. A., Tessaglia, D. L., & Slothower, R. L. (1998). Epidemic mycoplasmal conjunctivitis in house finches from eastern North America. Journal of Wildlife Diseases, 34(2), 265-280.

Farmer, K. L., Hill, G. E., & Roberts, S. R. (2005). Susceptibility of wild songbirds to the house finch strain of Mycoplasma gallisepticum. Journal of Wildlife Diseases, 41(2), 317-325.

Fry, M. A. (2019). Effects of Mycoplasma gallisepticum on experimentally infected Eastern Bluebirds (Sialia sialis).

Ley, D. H., Berkhoff, J. E., & McLaren, J. M. (1996). Mycoplasma gallisepticum isolated from house finches (Carpodacus mexicanus) with conjunctivitis. Avian diseases, 480-483.

Line, L. (1995, December 12). Epidemic is killing house finches while other songbirds are spared. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/1995/12/12/sc...