For the 3 years I’ve lived in this house, Finches have made their nest in the same corner of the porch. It protects them from wind and rain and there’s a strong base upon which to make a nest. The clutches have ranged from 3 to 5 eggs; most have made it to fledge. The females are brown while the males have reddish plumage. Despite our frequent comings and goings, the bird parents will always leave the nest when we open the door and attempt to distract us by flying to a nearby Maple tree and yelling at us. Sometimes the male and the female will even fly to different trees to really throw us off our game.

I didn’t (and still don’t) know much about House Finches, but since we’re living together, I thought I’d look them up. House Finches were brought to the East Coast to be pets. Then for reasons unknown to me a pet shop owner in New York set a group of them free. They began nesting and taking over food sources of native birds. I’m part of a Native Plant group who advocates pull all nonnative plants (especially invasive ones) from the garden. House Finches are considered invasive in some areas. They can carry disease, compete for food with native species, etc. It’s all true, but I can’t imagine turning over their nest. Besides the crows and the cardinals who also live in the garden seem to have no trouble having babies or getting enough to eat. My mind goes to eugenics and the very “scientific” case for removing or sterilizing humans and then to information about the impact of invasive species on ecosystems. Often the invasives were brought into ecosystems by humans either not caring or not understanding the full impact. These are, of course, different things – but the outsized role humans play in destroying things confuses me. Despite our inquiring minds, we seem to understand very little while attempting to control so much.

Nevertheless, House Finches enjoy nesting near humans. They tend to nest near, on, or in human structures. I’ve also seen Goldfinches in the late summer early Fall as the Echinacea flowers go dormant and the seeds are plentiful. They fly in around dusk, fill their bellies, and fly away. I’m not sure where they nest. They visit for meals while the House Finches tuck in for the season.

One unfortunate consequence of House Finch nestlings is something called the poop wreath. Other bird parents take care of their nests by removing fecal sacs, House Finches apparently can’t be bothered with this chore and the chicks simply relieve themselves over the side of the nest forming what is affectionately known as a poop wreath made of fecal sacs. The image you have of this is probably accurate. Luckily, it does not smell as distasteful as it looks and the chicks are cute enough that they can get away with this. The mating pair will often have multiple clutches in a season using the same nest; they do put fresh nesting material over the dirty nest. At the end of the season, I’ll remove the nest and attempt to clean up the area. But their mark has been made. This year, I’ll repaint the porch. Come Spring, the birds will not care. They will likely nest in the same spot again and the cycle will start over. Is it a good cycle? The pair of us squatting on this land, doing our best to make a life for ourselves? I have no idea. But here we are, do the best we can with where we are.