Did you know that the collective noun for these birds
is “a charm of finches”? Charming indeed – I particularly like the pink rump feathers that show up to such advantage. Here’s another view of that bird-babe magnet:
But here’s my real question for you: In the picture below, are these both house finches with variation in coloring, or is one a purple finch?
I don’t know why I like this picture as much as I do. Perhaps there’s something vulnerable and therefore endearing in the slightly out-of-focus top of her head, or the faint touches of pink among her feathers, like a black-and-white photo with just a touch of hand coloring.
As you can see by the green background, this was taken last week, before we all stopped worrying about global warming and began to fret about the onset of the next ice age.
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I like the show of pinkish-red rump feathers too.-Nice photos!
Warm? What’s that?
Look, I’m back here! Absolutely charming feeder photos- and yes they are both house finches. Funny- reminds me that we would often have dozens of house finches at the feedin station in Ann Arbor- and then there would be the odd purple finch sitting there. I miss the winter feeder activity but that’s about it. Stay warm, Wren.
richard – thanks for the second opinion. I was leaning that way myself.
lana – wishful thinking on my part. I would have liked one of them to be a purple.
FC – I swear, my eyeballs were solidifying in the two minutes it took to go from my office to my car. Did you say you had a spare room? porch? space in the chicken coop?
I like that last shot too!
The weather channel agrees with your ice age description up there.
I’m going to guess they’re both the same bird. A charm of finches–how wonderful.
I’m certainly not a birding expert. I download the image and lightened it up a bit and then went to Kaufman’s Field Guide. Both birds I believe are House Finches based on the red eyebrow and forehead contrasting with a brown cap. Both birds have dark stripes on the sides which the Purple Finch lacks.
That’s my guess anyway.
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