Thank you. I appreciate the time you took for me.
On Mon, May 8, 2023 at 11:38 PM Brad Shine <sonofshine@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
For everyone else who doesn't want to read the rest:
This is a House Finch.
Melody and others who want to read a lot more....:
If you look at the average lengths and sizes of all three species of
finches (House ,Cassin's, and Purple) they are roughly the same size and
there are pretty big ranges within each of the species, all of them are
around 12-15 centimeters, so size really wont come into play for the ID. If
you get a 12 centimeter House next to a 15 centimeter House, then one
mightttttt look bigger, but you could also have any sort of size combo.
Size in general is really a bad ID marker because there are so many things
that affect it, including (maybe most importantly) our perception.
Structure is a good thing to go off of because unless it has a weird
genetic thing, it should be relatively the same for all individuals of a
species.
So we are all in agreement that it is a finch and it is a male (adult)
because it has some color on it. (The color for house finches is
affected by diet so thats why we can get red, yellow or orange house
finches).
The beak is actually pretty tricky from the one angle we got from your
photo...
On the top mandible of the beak... that top ridge is called a culmen. On
House Finches the culmen is curved at an angle while Cassin's Finches have
very straight culmens and the beak is longer, skinnier, and pointier.
Your bird does not have a long, skinny, or pointy bill. If you look
closely the culmen is curved. It is not an exact straight line. I know this
is hard to see in your specific photo, but when you see a Cassin's Finch
beak it is really really obvious.
You indicated that your bird is not just red, but has much more red than
your average House Finch including on the chest and back. House finches can
vary how much red they can have, and your example is perfectly in normal
variations for House finch.
Purple Finches are noted as "Raspberry" in color.
Cassin's Finches are also noted as "Raspberry" in color with a peaked
crown that's red.
so essentially it should look more maroon-ish than red if its a Cassin's
or Purple.
Male Purple finches have rosy coloration on most of the bird.
Cassin's Finches have a brighter crown but still a rosy coloration on the
throat and possibly breast and some on the upper back.
Also your bird has blackish streaks on the side in the area above its legs
- the flank area/breast/belly.
Adult Male Cassin's do not have super streaked underparts (mostly plain)
and have a very small white eyering.
Adult male Purples also do not have super streaked underparts (mostly
plain) but might have some red or brownish ones but not dark or black or
that many like a House Finch.
With allllll of that being said, your bird is looking pretty sad on his
head... He is missing feathers on the back of his head and around his eye.
It could be molting perhaps, but I really think it has some feather mites
that are causing the lack of feathers in those areas.
These birds can be tricky, but every time I have seen a Cassin's or a
Purple Finch I immediately knew it was not a house finch. I know that might
not be helpful to hear, but I didn't think it could be different, I KNEW it
was different.
While I don't think this is perfect, this link does a pretty good job of
describing all of the differences, probably better than me, and it includes
pictures :-)
https://birdfinding.info/identification-house-purple-cassins-finches/
Hope this helps,
Brad Shine
On Mon, May 8, 2023 at 10:53 PM Melody Huffman <biblebarn3432@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Hey Brad, I’d like to understand why you think a house finch. It just
seems to have so much more red on its back and back of the neck and seemed
larger than the male house finches that frequent our feeder. I’m not
trying to be difficult just want to know a tad more. We had a yellow orange
house finch a few years ago. Do you think this one is immature? It
preferred the sunflower seeds on the ground The other finches prefer our
sock or platform feeder. Thanks.
On Mon, May 8, 2023 at 4:29 PM Brad Shine <sonofshine@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
This is a house finch
Brad Shine
On Mon, May 8, 2023 at 6:14 AM Melody Huffman <biblebarn3432@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
We had this little finch in the backyard yesterday. Not sure what it
is. Cassin's? Purple? I was taking pics through the kitchen window and it
wouldn't get out in the sun. Just really don't think it is a house finch.
Thank you, Melody