I never saw this one in our yard before.. today as I was following a common sparrow, I found this one. It was past sunset so I had to boost the ISO, hence the bad quality. I have more of its pics.. it has a reddish neck and head.
ETA: Darn I left a typo in the thread title:-(
ETA#2: Thanks a lot SC/whoever corrected the title!
Not that. Note the lack of eye markings, the lack of prominent red in the neck area, and the fact that the wing markings start much lower down. The bill is also darker.
My vote's for house finch as well. The purple's tail is more deeply notched.
It can be VERY hard to tell them apart unless you have them side by side, especially since you can get quite a variation of colour, not only area to area but even bird to bird.
They often hang out with the sparrows and juncos, and love a good bird feeder. I think their numbers must be growing. We used to see them fairly rarely in comparison to the others I mentioned but last winter they were nearly as common at our feeder than anything.
My vote's for house finch as well. The purple's tail is more deeply notched.
It can be VERY hard to tell them apart unless you have them side by side, especially since you can get quite a variation of colour, not only area to area but even bird to bird.
They often hang out with the sparrows and juncos, and love a good bird feeder. I think their numbers must be growing. We used to see them fairly rarely in comparison to the others I mentioned but last winter they were nearly as common at our feeder than anything.
I also think of the House Finches as being 'rougher' in color, whereas the Purple Funches are more sleek.
