Castanet

Can someone readily identify this bird? Actually in real life it appears more orange than the red that shows up in the picture. The first one is one of the females that is hanging around - there are at least a couple more females in my lilac bush. Last 2 is the guy. Last night, there were about a dozen of them sitting in the trees, close together at dusk and of course none of those pics turned out. I think it is a finch of some sort, but then again, what do I know? Sorry about the blurriness, but this was a quick snap situation.....

Looks like a Purple Finch to me. The House Finch doesn't have quite as much red on him.

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Purple_Finch/id/ac

How big was this bird? Did it have a bigger, thick beak?

I spose it might also be a Pine Grosbeak. The pic is kinda blurry to make a good ID.

http://identify.whatbird.com/obj/317/_/ ... sbeak.aspx

Well, I searched for both of those, but the thing that gets me is the body of the guy (bogger than a sparrow) was distinctly ORANGE.. I thought about a flame colored tananger, but it seems to be too big for that, and the beak is really quite heavy... they crack open whatever they are after on the lilac bush.. I will try very hard tomorrow to get a GOOD pic of the orange guy.. Never seen a feathered creature like him before!! What about the pics of the female? Any clues there? Olive green head, rest rather drab grey..

Re the beak, does it seem crossed? Like a crossbill? White-winged Crossbill, winter adult has a lot of orange in him. National Geo. Field Guide to Birds, page 458/459.

http://www.oiseaux-birds.com/card-white ... sbill.html

This shows the male and then the olive drab female second. FF, is this your mystery bird?

Speaking of mystery birds, I've always wondered about this one: I got it at the Summerland Research Gardens last summer.

Here's another female WWCB.
http://www.gschneiderphoto.com/gallery3 ... ill_1046-3

If that's your mystery bird, that's wonderful!!! I didn't know we had those here. Will check the local list of birds for ya.

Queenie - your mystery bird looks like a juvie.

I looked at the Interior BC bird list and it shows White-winged Crossbills were sighted in Jan and Feb but none so far for March.

Just heard back from a birder and they said FF's red/orange bird is a male Pine Grosbeak.

grammafreddy wrote:Just heard back from a birder and they said FF's red/orange bird is a male Pine Grosbeak.

Ahh... Thank you! Hoping they will nest around here. Got lots of robins, jays and now Pine Grosbeaks. Yay!

grammafreddy wrote:Looks like a Purple Finch to me. The House Finch doesn't have quite as much red on him.

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Purple_Finch/id/ac

no purple finches in the Okanagan.

butcher99 wrote: no purple finches in the Okanagan.

Odd. The BC Interior Bird List shows them here for the past 5 years.