Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.PCS 1/10/84; site mtuxo.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!seismo!lll-crg!dual!qantel!ihnp4!houxm!mtuxo!rsl From: rsl@mtuxo.UUCP (r.little) Newsgroups: net.rec.birds Subject: Re: The Great Net Cleanup Part IIb Message-ID: <863@mtuxo.UUCP> Date: Thu, 8-Aug-85 19:33:21 EDT Article-I.D.: mtuxo.863 Posted: Thu Aug 8 19:33:21 1985 Date-Received: Tue, 13-Aug-85 01:26:24 EDT References: <697@gatech.CSNET> <849@mtuxo.UUCP> Organization: AT&T Information Systems Labs, Holmdel NJ Lines: 17 > REFERENCES: <697@gatech.CSNET> > > Now for a new poser: Are House Finches, which seem to be > progressively spreading across the USA, any more "desirable" than > House Sparrows? Will the novelty of their color and song wear thin > after they have taken over? What is their impact on native fauna? Several replies have mentioned House Finches. Each seems to feel that House Finches are a positive introduction to North American avifauna, not competing with native species. We had a pair nest in an arborvitae at the corner of our NJ house in 1984, and in a wicker basket on our front porch in April 1985 and in a Taxus yew along the front of our house in June 1985. A Song Sparrow had nested in that yew in 1984, but I don't know where it went this year. I've been wondering if the House Finches displaced the Song Sparrows, or if the Song Sparrows moved for other reasons and the House Finches filled the void, or if the two could have co-existed.