Sunday, May 24, 2009

This bird perplexes me....it has characteristics of a finch and sparrow and as both frequent this area I am just not sure....any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.House Finch (male)
Tree Swallow

As always if you click on the picture you can see the bird in a larger view

Update on this post thanks to a fellow birder they have provided me with the identification of the first bird. Apparently it is the Female Black-headed Grosbeak. That would make sense as the male also frequents the feeder.

5 comments:

  1. What you have there is a female Black-Headed Grosbeak. How cool! Great photos!

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  2. Thank you so much.....now that you have identified it and I look it up it all makes sense....yippee!!

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  3. Hello The Amateur Birder. Lovely photos! I believe your Tree Swallow may be a Violet-green Swallow instead. The most obvious difference between males of the two species is the white area into and above the eye. The Tree Swallow has no white above the eye. In flight, they differ to my eye by the Violet-green's exaggerated white rump patch and the males' back colors (TS cobalt blue, VGS bright green with a dash of purple). Good birding, and keep these photos coming!

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  4. This feeder is so cute. I love birds too. ^^

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  5. Glad you found out what the bird is...I could tell it was a Grosbeak, but I didn't know which one. I only see the Rose-Breased ones briefly in the early summer as they pass through here, but the female is very similar to this one.

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