[TopOfUtah] House Finches and energy efficiency

[Jason Pietrzak]

This morning while eating breakfast, the heat came on. Within moments,
a healthy male House Finch came down from the feeder and onto the
patio outside our breakfast area. He fluffed up he feathers, came over
to the door, and nestled his head down into his body. We were kinda
pleased to see him sitting there but we were a little concerned that
something might be wrong with him. Why would a healthy bird snuggle up
in the corner of our patio?

Then the heat went off. His head came up and he looked inside at us
for a few moments, craning his neck, and then he flew back to the
feeder. I guess this was a free energy efficiency consultation. Now
I'm wondering - are these guys so sensitive that he was able to detect
the escaping warmth somehow and immediately fly to the source or has
he been frequenting our patio door warming station for a while and
we've just never noticed him before? I also wonder how human-created
heat-pollution might be affecting the larger world of birds... anybody
know?

Jason