House finches are usually social birds. By this, I mean that they frequently arrive at a feeding station together, leave together, and that they allow each other’s presence more or less. They even intermingle with gold finches which are somewhat smaller.
The civility comes close to that of a bunch of kindergarten children in that they eat as a group, but there is some nudging and shoving. This is easier to observe at cylindrical feeders with multiple holes than at dishes. It isn’t unusual that one will land on another to chase it away from a feeding hole. Typically this works and the attacker gets the feeding hole. The other flies up to a nearby roosting point, checks out other places on the feeder and then goes to one of those that is free.
However, lately, we have observed several fights among the finches. While I can’t be absolutely certain, it appears to mostly occur between male house finches.
Whether at the feeder or the dish, they will all seem to be peacefully eating until suddenly, two finches will rise straight up several feet in the air, facing each other and flapping their wings. It appears to be an aerial shoving match since neither bird seems to make forward progress and both birds seem to be in each other’s face.
The process is quick, explosive, and unpredictable. Weeks can go by without any fights and then several appear in a day. It’s difficult to videotape these experiences because of the unpredicabilityl The fight seems to be over when one or both birds turn away to land. I suppose the winner is the one that returns to the feeder fastest.
I wonder why this kind of activity appears in bursts. I have a suspicion that it is juveniles, but that is harder to tell with finches than some of the other birds.