I enjoy writing about the animals you see in your backyard every day, and trying to find little details that make them more quirky and interesting. My devious plan is to tempt you outside so you can check those facts for yourself.

What could be more common than house finches? Surely you see them at your bird feeder every day? However, I found that some people are a bit uncertain about identifying them as “house finches” with authority.

Sometime you see birds with much red on their faces and sometimes much brown. Are they the same birds? Males can be seen with more or less red, orange or yellow feathers around the face and upper breast and belly. The intensity of the color changes with the seasons, so I imagine it can be a little disconcerting when you try to identify them in the springtime or in winter. Also, the intensity of the color changes with their diet, and that is a very important fact we are going to revisit in this article.

They have a streaky brown back, and the females do not have any red; they are grayish brown with thick, blurry streaks. However, they are both house finches.

Keep in mind that each bird molts its entire plumage once a year. It does not happen all at once; a bird needs to fly and could not lose all of its primary feathers at once (large feathers on the wings that allow it to take off in flight). Rather, they lose feathers in a matching pattern on the body so as not to be impaired or out of balance.

Feathers get worn out – just like an old sweater with holes that does not do the trick any more – and are replaced on a regular basis by molting. This brings you to the fact that a male red finch can be very red one year and more orange the next, depending on its diet. Keep this thought in mind.

Also, the bright plumage is a sure way to attract a mate. Each animal’s instinct is to reproduce so the breed can go on, and this where I discovered an interesting fact. Most of the articles I read about house finches mentioned that the male finch with the most red attracts females easily. House finches form a pair in the winter, and they are monogamous during the breeding season, so it is important to choose a good partner.

Indeed, the first-year reproducing females often choose the gorgeous male with the most red. They breed early in the season, but the red males are not the best parents, and the females have to work extra hard to feed those chicks themselves. The red males survived longer because they did not do such a stressful job as feeding the female and the chicks in the nest.

So, during the second breeding season, the more experienced females choose males that are less flashy, with more orange or even yellow in coloration. Being chosen later during the breeding season, those males step up to the plate and do a better job of feeding the chicks and the female during the nesting phase.

That leaves the red males with a certain dilemma, which is to mate only with the first-year breeding females. The younger females, lacking experience, will choose the red males. Those males will have plenty of chicks – but only with the young females.

I had to laugh when I was doing my research, as images of the movie “Grease” kept flying through my head, with all the teenage girls falling head over heels for all of the young and flashy guys.

It is hard not to anthropomorphize those situations and not to make comparison with our lives. I know it is a mistake, and birds have complex selection pressure and competition. But it can be fun just to pretend.

Also, males do not stay the same color all their lives during the breeding season. Males that do not attract a female one year tend to be redder the next year, hoping to seduce a young mate.

How do they attract a mate? The male makes a “butterfly flight,” which is a little dance ritual for 20 minutes while singing loudly. (How about a serenade?) They also feed their mate and protect her from other males. (Taking your date to the restaurant? Gosh, I am having fun with this article.) They breed between March and August and can raise up to three clutches per year.

The nest is cup-shaped, built almost entirely by the female, and is made of fibers – grasses, twigs, leaves – and is usually about 12 to 15 feet off of the ground. It can be found in trees but also in hanging planters, in ivy along a building, or in little cavities.

The female lays three to six small, bluish eggs. The female does the incubation and broods the naked chicks, and both the male and female feed the chicks. When the chicks have hatched, the female removes the empty eggshells from the nest.

At first, the hatchlings are silent for six to eight days; then they start peeping during feeding. The nestlings leave the nest when they are 12 to 19 days old. They start to learn to fly by going from one branch to the next.

Most birds tend to feed their babies some proteins to help them to grow, but house finches give only plant material. Dandelion seeds seem to be a favorite food for the young.

House finches forage on the ground or in vegetation and visit bird feeders frequently. They eat grains, seeds and berries. They are gregarious birds, and the young house finches form large flocks.

Are those birds native? Yes, they are, at least in California. At first they were only residents of Mexico and the Southwestern United States. Those pretty little red birds with the happy songs were sold in New York City as “Hollywood finches.” Then came the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 which made it illegal to sell or own those birds. What did everybody do to avoid paying fines? They opened their cages, and the finches were released into the wild.

They survived and became naturalized in most of the areas that are not forested, displacing some of the purple finches and even the non-native house sparrows as they have taken over their habitat. But they have not become a pest like the starlings did. The starlings were introduced to New York City in 1890 from Europe.

One last aspect about house finches I have not covered: Their twittering songs are very melodious; their chirping is delightful and cheerful. Males sing the whole year around, and females sing during the spring.

They bring life to your garden at this time of the year. They descend in a bright flock on your bird feeder with obvious delight and can be seen and heard while perching high in nearby trees or feeding on the ground.

All of these are great reasons to go outside, listen to them and watch them. Have a great spring.

Evelyne Vandersande has been a docent at the Placerita Canyon Nature Center since 1986. She lives in Newhall.