Well, I try not to be guilty of premature exaggerations, but yesterday was
such a day. So sorry.

The "hybrid Purple X House Finch" turns out to be a very very bright House
Finch. When we prepared the specimen, I decided a hybrid would perhaps
show more Purple Finch characteristics (shorter tail, less striped belly)
and looked at it again. I compared it with all of our male House Finch
specimens, not just one trayful. I was able to arrange a series of
specimens from the dullest, brown-backed ones through ones with increasing
amounts of red on the upper surface to culminate in this specimen and
another like it from California.

This was a learning experience for me, as I never realized House Finches
could be so bright, with such extensive red. None of the field guides show
anything like this, and, indeed, a typical bird has a brown crown and red
supercilium just as shown. Perhaps the "hybrids" that Kathleen mentioned
were individuals like these. I'm sure that such a bird might even be
called a Purple Finch with a poor look, but they are still (1) streaked all
over the belly, and (2) the shape of a House Finch, with a relatively long
tail. The bill looked big, but I found that it was within the range of
variation of House Finches.

Birds such as this species are known to vary in brightness with the amount
and kind of carotenoid pigments in their diet, and these bright
birds--which can occur at any time of year, so aren't a consequence of
plumage wear--may well have a diet especially rich in carotenoids.

Interestingly, although we get a lot of House Finches brought in, we
haven't received a yellow-orange one for several years (since 1991, in
fact). Have they disappeared from local populations? Anyone have any of
these dull males at your feeder?

I'm off for a 4-day weekend. Pray for sun over the Blue Mountains (or
wherever you want, for that matter)!

Dennis Paulson, Director phone 206-756-3798
Slater Museum of Natural History fax 206-756-3352
University of Puget Sound e-mail dpaulson at ups.edu
Tacoma, WA 98416