Other Names (World)
House Finch, Common House Finch, McGregor's Housefinch (mcgregori), San Benito Housefinch (mcgregori), Guadalupe House Finch (amplus)
House Finch (Haemorhous mexicanus) [XC481935]
by Manuel Grosselet from Bird and Butterfly Garden, Tijuana River Valley Regional Park, San Diego Co, California, United States (song)
House Finch (Haemorhous mexicanus) [XC417550]
by Manuel Grosselet from Lomas de Bezares Miguel Hidalgo Mexico city, Mexico (call, song)
Subspecies
Geographical variation complex, and considerable variation in body size, bill size and shape, and wing, tail and tarsus lengths. Also, the degree of saturation of red in male plumage (largely derived from access to carotenoid pigments in food) highly variable both within and among populations (in some populations in Hawaiian Is, where introduced, males lack red). In addition, some populations poorly known and range of variation undescribed. Large subspecies mcgregori (extinct) and amplus sometimes considered to represent one or perhaps two separate species. Conversely, in south-western USA, proposed subspecies grinnelli (described from R Scott, north-west of Callahan, in California), solitudinus (from Fallon, in Nevada), smithi (from near Aurora, in north-central Colorado) and anconophila (from Chinati Mts, in Presidio County, in south-western Texas) all commonly synonymized with frontalis. Present division of subspecies, based on male plumage and morphological features, may not be sustainable, and entire range of variation within the species requires further research.
The following 13 subspecies are recognised:
frontalis (Say, 1822) - South-western and extreme south-eastern Canada (Vancouver I, southern British Columbia and south-western Alberta east, just north of USA border, to south-eastern Ontario and east to southern Nova Scotia), USA and north-western Mexico.
clementis Mearns, 1898 - San Clemente I (off south-western California) and Los Coronados Is (off extreme north-western Baja California).
amplus (Ridgway, 1876) - Guadalupe I (off western Baja California).
ruberrimus (Ridgway, 1887) - Southern Baja California, in north-western Mexico.
rhodopnus R. T. Moore, 1936 - North-western Mexico (central Sinaloa).
BirdLife International Species Factsheet