# Trying to make sense of some house finch behavior
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-make-sense-of-some-house-finch-behavior/688187
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [May 11, 2014, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-make-sense-of-some-house-finch-behavior/688187 "2014-05-11T14:32:09Z")
**Posts on this page:** 14
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2014, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-make-sense-of-some-house-finch-behavior/688187/1 "2014-05-11T14:32:09Z")
I hear this tremendous racket and notice two males flitting around a female(?) or an immature (?) that’s not moving, perching on the side of a tree trunk. There’s something that looks like feeding behavior, mouth open. I notice that it’s eyes are closed, although the eyelids look more wrinkled than merely closed. Later, it shows up on our feeder. Just sitting, not moving, eyes closed. Occasionally, its eyes open and then close. I move in close to take a picture, and it still doesn’t move. I move to the side and it moves to keep facing me. I stand back and make a pish pish sound, and it flies away and lands in a tree. I’m curious about all this - the disabled bird, the males - and can’t quite find anything that helps explain what might have been going on. Any ideas, dopers? Colibri?
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2014, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-make-sense-of-some-house-finch-behavior/688187/2 "2014-05-11T15:39:58Z")
Hard to say without knowing if the disabled bird was an adult female or a juvenile, or what exactly the behavior of the males was like, or what was affecting the disabled bird. If it was a female, perhaps the males were attempting to court or else threatening each other.
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### Author:  [@PurpleClogs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PurpleClogs)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2014, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-make-sense-of-some-house-finch-behavior/688187/3 "2014-05-11T17:36:38Z")
Birds do sleep.
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2014, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-make-sense-of-some-house-finch-behavior/688187/4 "2014-05-11T18:07:10Z")
> [@PurpleClogs](#):
>
> Birds do sleep.
Very unlikely that one would fall asleep in the open during daylight. Birds normally sleep in roosting areas that are at least somewhat protected from predators.
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### Author:  [@PurpleClogs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PurpleClogs)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2014, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-make-sense-of-some-house-finch-behavior/688187/5 "2014-05-11T18:25:45Z")
It happens. I’ve seen wild birds do it myself. Here’s a couple on YouTube sleeping out in the open…
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMcvE1vdV\_4&feature=youtube\_gdata\_player](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMcvE1vdV_4&feature=youtube_gdata_player)
Pardon the idiot kids in this one…
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AcHr6ipQfs&feature=youtube\_gdata\_player](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AcHr6ipQfs&feature=youtube_gdata_player)
When birds are tired from some big event like after a storm or [landing from migration](http://www.houstonaudubon.org/default.aspx/menuitemid/366/menugroup/high+island.htm), they do sometimes rest right where they drop.
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2014, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-make-sense-of-some-house-finch-behavior/688187/6 "2014-05-11T18:33:27Z")
> [@PurpleClogs](#):
>
> It happens. I’ve seen wild birds do it myself. Here’s a couple on YouTube sleeping out in the open…
>
> [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMcvE1vdV\_4&feature=youtube\_gdata\_player](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMcvE1vdV_4&feature=youtube_gdata_player)
>
> Pardon the idiot kids in this one…
> [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AcHr6ipQfs&feature=youtube\_gdata\_player](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AcHr6ipQfs&feature=youtube_gdata_player)
>
> When birds are tired from some big event like after a storm or [landing from migration](http://www.houstonaudubon.org/default.aspx/menuitemid/366/menugroup/high+island.htm), they do sometimes rest right where they drop.
Yes, but none of those are normal sleeping behavior. Both those birds are very clearly in distress, or they wouldn’t be in the open, even if they are able to fly away at the end.
Your answer implied that the bird might have just decided to take a nap. A distressed or injured bird may indeed appear to doze off, but the problem is that it is ill or sick, not that it’s sleepy.
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### Author:  [@chiroptera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiroptera)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2014, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-make-sense-of-some-house-finch-behavior/688187/7 "2014-05-11T20:42:03Z")
This might be way off, but is it possible it was a fledgling and the other birds were trying to goad it into flight?
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2014, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-make-sense-of-some-house-finch-behavior/688187/8 "2014-05-11T22:19:23Z")
> [@chiroptera](#):
>
> This might be way off, but is it possible it was a fledgling and the other birds were trying to goad it into flight?
It’s certainly possible. Fledglings often leave the nest prematurely when they have poor ability to fly. If one didn’t get enough food or water and was week it could result in the eye closing behavior.
I don’t know what “something that looks like feeding behavior” means in the OP - whether the female/juvenile was being fed by a male, or whether it was trying to feed on its own. If it was being fed it could suggest it’s a fledgling. In this case, I don’t know why two males would be with it. On the other hand, the species engages in also courtship feeding, with the male giving food to the female. So the males could have been competing for the female.
In short, there’s just not enough information in the OP to be sure what was going on.
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### Author:  [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2014, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-make-sense-of-some-house-finch-behavior/688187/9 "2014-05-11T22:45:42Z")
“Feeding behavior” meant that what I at first took to be a juvenile had its mouth open for a moment but a male stuck his beak in. I think that’s typically female behavior. On the other hand, the two males were making quite the racket and were flitting around her (?) as if they were trying to get her attention - more like mating-type activity of adult birds. Based on the lethargic behavior of the bird and its peculiar looking eyes, I took it to be disabled. But how that fit into the behavior I saw was what I didn’t really understand.
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### Author:  [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2014, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-make-sense-of-some-house-finch-behavior/688187/10 "2014-05-11T23:18:11Z")
> [@CC](#):
>
> “Feeding behavior” meant that what I at first took to be a juvenile had its mouth open for a moment but a male stuck his beak in. I think that’s typically female behavior.
I’m not sure what you mean by that. Male birds very commonly feed their offspring. Or did you mean something else?
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### Author:  [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2014, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-make-sense-of-some-house-finch-behavior/688187/11 "2014-05-11T23:24:16Z")
Nope, that’s what I meant. I didn’t think the male finches fed the young.
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### Author:  [@chiroptera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiroptera)
#### Post date: [May 12, 2014, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-make-sense-of-some-house-finch-behavior/688187/12 "2014-05-12T00:31:05Z")
> [@CC](#):
>
> Nope, that’s what I meant. I didn’t think the male finches fed the young.
According to [several](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_Finch) [sources](http://birdweb.org/birdweb/bird/house_finch), the female is the primary feeder of the young but the male often joins in the feeding behaviour. Also the male feeds females during courtship.
Which doesn’t clarify anything, I realise.
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [May 12, 2014, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-make-sense-of-some-house-finch-behavior/688187/13 "2014-05-12T00:46:24Z")
All things considered, it sounds to me more like courtship behavior than adults caring for a juvenile. In any case, I think early May would be quite early to see fledglings in most of the country. I would just guess that the female was ill or otherwise partially incapacitated.
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### Author:  [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)
#### Post date: [May 12, 2014, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-make-sense-of-some-house-finch-behavior/688187/14 "2014-05-12T01:05:02Z")
such the great website!