It's a lousy shot (some kind of white stuff drifted in front as I took the photo) and it's cropped way too much, but what species is this bird? My bird books aren't much help. It's sparrow-sized, but with a heavy beak. Could it be a common House Finch, or maybe a more exotic Pine Grosbeak? I appeal to all my birder friends to tell me.
My vote is for the House Finch. They're pretty common around Chicago.
ReplyDeleteoh, when i was a kid we had pine siskins, purple finches and house finches, all similar. it's for sure one of those three, but i don't have a guide in front of me and i can't recall which is which.
ReplyDeleteLooks like a House Finch to me Henry
ReplyDeleteToo much red for a house finch. Purple Finch. We have them both at our feeders now.
ReplyDeleteHmmm . . . Googling "house finch" and "purple finch" brings up all kinds of confusion. The birds look remarkably alike, except for the extent of the red color. One identifying point, an online source said, is a streak of red on the back of the purple finch -- but the side view I have doesn't show anything one way or the other.
ReplyDeleteI guess I'll just have to wait until the finch returns and get some more shots of it.
A good rundown of the difficulty in identifying purple and house finches can be found at the Cornell Bird Lab:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.birds.cornell.edu/pfw/AboutBirdsandFeeding/finchIDtable.html