: to primarily in towns and villages, especially Bar Harbor and Southwest Harbor. Numbers decline Oct-Mar possibly due to the emigration of young birds.
Miscellany: House Finch, historically a western North American species, was introduced to the east in 1939 by the release of a few California birds from a pet store in Long island, NY. Since then, and from there, it's spread north, east, and south but also west to the point where it's now reconnected with its historical range. The first birds in our area occurred in the early 1980s; the first recorded on a MDI CBC was in 1984. A bacterial eye infection brought about widespread declines in eastern populations in the 1990s and numbers have remained below their historical highs.
Last Updated: June 2nd, 2022