The female-type Purple Finch has shown up again this morning at my yard in Longmont, CO. I am willing to have folks stop by to see her BEFORE 2pm today. Email me if you are interested in coming over and I will give you more details. Thanks.
Bryan Bryan Guarente Instructional Designer/Meteorologist UCAR/The COMET Program Boulder, CO On Wed, Nov 12, 2014 at 8:56 PM, Bryan Guarente <[email protected]> wrote: > For those interested in the female "eastern" Purple Finch seen today, I > can give you more details and more photos. > > https://www.flickr.com/photos/dafekt1ve/ > > Five of the photos are by John Vanderpoel (noted in the details) and three > are mine. > > *Discussion:* > This bird showed up this morning at my feeders with a large flock of House > Finches. I had been watching the feeders as there were 10 species visible > in just my backyard (not counting flyovers). I was enjoying the diversity, > when this finch landed in view with a large white eyestripe. I told my > wife it was a Cassin's Finch, but immediately started doubting myself since > I hadn't looked at it long enough. Upon further reflection, this bird had > > - a curved culmen on a shorter beak than is expected from Cassin's > Finch > - buffy sides (not always visible in the photos) > - darkest brown on its auriculars > - no eyering > - thick, dark streaks on the white breast and sides > - unmarked undertail coverts > - and overall color darker than surrounding House Finches > - David Dowell heard the bird call in flight multiple times and > described it as a "pik". > > Heard from multiple people after posting to CoBirds. Some doubt was cast > on this bird because of the photos not showing the buffy sides. But I can > guarantee they were present on the bird in person. > > *Visiting/Chasing this bird:* > I did NOT see the bird after 2:10pm this afternoon. The House Finches > were still present but there was no Purple Finch amongst them. I will post > to CoBirds in the morning if the bird shows up again. I am happy to have > visitors before 2pm tomorrow. After that, my work schedule is going to > change. If you would like to try to chase the bird, please email me back > for address and phone number. The bird is not easily seen from the streets > due to a privacy fence. Entering into the yard will cause the birds to > disperse as the yard is not very large, so please DO NOT enter into the > gated yard if you do choose to chase this bird. I am willing to entertain > folks in the house for viewing. This is a much better option with the temps > forecast for tomorrow. > > Let me know if you would like to chase this bird tomorrow. I will post if > the bird shows. If you don't hear from me, the bird hasn't shown up. > > Bryan > > Bryan Guarente > Instructional Designer/Meteorologist > UCAR/The COMET Program > Boulder, CO > > On Wed, Nov 12, 2014 at 10:59 AM, Bryan Guarente <[email protected] > > wrote: > >> Having made the mistake many times before (Purple versus Cassin's Finch), >> I am hesitant to call this bird a Purple Finch. I am pretty convinced >> though this time and have some photos for your perusal, and more opinions >> are appreciated. Will discuss more later, but here are the initial photos. >> >> https://www.flickr.com/photos/dafekt1ve/15588523669/in/photostream/ >> https://www.flickr.com/photos/dafekt1ve/15772478681/in/photostream/ >> >> Let me know what you think. >> >> Bryan Guarente >> Instructional Designer/Meteorologist >> UCAR/The COMET Program >> Boulder, CO >> > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/CAENnWHs6E2cgFO8KbZW7n8WoeMpzoDp5HzxRWGRqEfefJNbdGg%40mail.gmail.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
