Hi Dan,
I've never read anything that might indicate house finches are any more vulnerable to avian influenza. However, house finches are very vulnerable to house finch eye disease which can cause blindness and starvation.
Since house finch eye disease was introduced in the 1990's, your observations might reflect a slow but steady decline in most of house finch populations starting in the late 1990's and early 2000's. Healthy house finches displacing house sparrows before the eye disease was introduced, then the equilibrium in early 2000's, and perhaps even more eye disease deaths by 2020 (and perhaps continuing to increase).
—-----------Ken Kinman (Hays, Kansas)
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From: Birds & Their Habitats in Kansas <KSBIRD-L...> on behalf of Dan Mulhern <browndog06...>
Sent: Thursday, January 29, 2026 9:12 AM
To: <KSBIRD-L...> <KSBIRD-L...>
Subject: "House" birds
I remember being excited when House Finches began moving into the Manhattan area, maybe in the 1980s. Now I didn't have to go visit family in Denver to see them. Once they firmly established themselves as a breeding population, they seemed to displace House Sparrows at my feed/water stations. Sparrows didn't disappear but the numbers went way down.
Fast forward to maybe early 2000s, and the two species had reached more of an equilibrium in my sphere of observation. Sometimes more of one, sometimes more of the other, but with House Finches holding perhaps a slight numerical advantage on an annual basis.
Fast forward again to the 2020s, and especially 2026, and the House Finch numbers have been overwhelmingly surpassed by House Sparrows. This winter I'd estimate at least 85% House Sparrows, and that might be an underestimation.
I'm wondering if there will "always" be this ebb and flow, back and forth? Have House Sparrows finally regained their permanent edge? Are House Finches more susceptible to avian influenza? Questions without answers yet.
Anyone else in KS seeing trends like these?
Dan Mulhern Manhattan
