Our neighbor, the ? Finch
There is this little spice finch (?) who eats on a blade of uncut grass on a hill in Inwood Park that I’ve been seeing every day for the past week. At first I thought he was a sparrow, but noticed his coat had more of a chestnut shine, not a dusty brown. Then I saw his black little beak, and how he sat royally on top of a blade of grass eating its seeds. I stopped. I confirmed he wasn’t a sparrow after seeing his black and white speckled underbelly. He let’s you get close. He looks at you looking at him, then continues eating his seeds. I think of two things when I see him: why are you here, and, if the parks department had cut this part of the field in man’s obessessive quest to have trimmed grass, you wouldn’t have any food as it seems like your beak is made just for blade seeds. How a small act of not cutting the corners of the grass allowed for a spice finch to survive.
Now I’ve called the Audubon Society, emailed bird websites to see if I should catch him because I’m not sure if he’s an escaped pet (they told me NOT to do this). I really don’t know for sure if he is a spice finch. One resident who saw C-mixto looking at him claims that there are tons of them here. If anyone knows of finch colonies in Inwood, give a shout out. It’s such a curious urban sight.
