North America is home to 17 species of finches. Two of them live year-round in the Times News region: the American goldfinch and the house finch.

(I think whoever named the goldfinch either didn’t know colors that well or he/she didn’t like the name yellow finch.)

The male goldfinch, in its breeding plumage, is bright yellow, matching the petals of the ripening sunflowers in which they feast in August. The goldfinch is native to these parts.

The house finch, however, is not native to the Eastern United States. House finches lived on our West Coast, and some bird fanciers brought them East to New York, where they were to be sold as caged birds, much like canaries. You know the drill — some escaped, others were released and they found the East Coast as hospitable as their original homes. Today, they often outnumber native birds at our feeders.

For me, when I cultivated grapes, they were the bad guys. About half of my grapes were punctured and ruined by my second least favorite birds.

As my peach crop was getting ready to harvest, they turned to the peaches and pecked them. Adding insult to injury, they then turned to the eight varieties of apples, and you can guess what happened next. As the varieties ripened, they then became the targets. Curses to those house finches.

I’ll list some of the other finches that you could encounter or some of those who might visit your feeders.

Looking a bit like a chunky house finch but with much more red plumage are the purple finches.

I usually find small flocks at my feeders late in winter or early spring. Many apparently migrated farther south than Pennsylvania, and on their return to their northern U.S. and Canadian breeding areas, stop to fuel up. They also love the catkins of aspen trees, and their cheery song alerts me to look high in the aspens to find them there.

If you have thistle (Niger) feeders, check regularly, for often mixed in with the goldfinches you could find pine siskins. They aren’t as bright as the goldfinches but have streakier plumage.

When the hemlock trees where I hunt were healthier (woolly adelgid damage) I would hear pine siskins twittering, and with my binoculars I could find them feeding high in the trees. (Have our dying hemlocks affected their populations or do they just avoid these dying trees and head elsewhere?)

My favorite finch, now on the list of birds of special concern, is the evening grosbeak. Back in the mid-1970s to about 1980, flocks of these noisy and beautiful birds would converge on my hopper feeders filled with sunflower seeds. In an hour or two, they emptied them. I could expect to find them every winter.

Since then, I’ve only seen one bird, and just briefly, at one of my feeders. I’ve included a poor picture, taken through a window. When I stepped outside for a better pic, it left and has not been seen again.

If you are a serious birder, some winters will give you a chance to see red crossbills, white-winged crossbills and common redpolls. Look for crossbills in a stand of spruce trees, like those near Wild Creek Reservoir. Redpolls seem to favor birch trees, and if you see a small flock of birds feeding on the catkins, check them closely.

Elusive and irregular visitors here are pine grosbeaks. Around 1980 I found a small flock at the food plots along the shores of Beltzville Lake. Even though I hope to find them again, they have not returned.

Test Your Outdoor Knowledge: True or False: Great horned owls and bald eagles will be laying their first egg in about three weeks.

Last Week’s Trivia Answer: Surprisingly, both the meadow and woodland jumping mice are hibernators, unlike meadow voles or white-footed mice.

Email Barry Reed at breed71@gmail.com