I guess I haven't looked that closely.

Because the orange-red coloration is due to carotenoids in the diet, I would
assume the mottled coloration is due to differences in diet when the
feathers were actually growing. The breast feathers on a House Finch are
molted a few at a time. So the orange ones were grown during a period with
less carotenoids than the red ones.

Deb Beutler
Dept. of Zoology
Washington State University
Pullman, Whitman Co., WA

dbeutler at wsunix.wsu.edu
-----Original Message-----
From: denniskrockwell at juno.com <denniskrockwell at juno.com>
To: nyneve at u.washington.edu <nyneve at u.washington.edu>
Cc: tweeters at u.washington.edu <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Date: Tuesday, January 19, 1999 8:53 PM
Subject: Re: oddly-marked house finch spotted on UW campus


>Deborah and Tweeters,
>
>Speaking of oddly marked HOUSE FINCHES -- I imagine that most of us by
>now have seen the occasional male HOUSE FINCH that was orange or yellow
>colored where most are colored red. For the first time ever, this winter
>I've started seeing ones which have both red and orange mottled coloring
>which is particularly noticable on their breasts.
>They are not attractive and, in fact, look a little goofy. Is this
>something new, or have others seen it before this?
>
>Dennis K Rockwell
>Kennewick, Washington
>denniskrockwell at juno.com
>
>"Cynicism is what passes for insight among the mediocre." Joe Klein
>
>On Tue, 19 Jan 1999 07:32:37 -0800 (PST) Deborah Wisti-Peterson
><nyneve at u.washington.edu> writes:
>>
>>hello tweets.
>>
>>last week, i noticed an oddly-marked bird hanging out with a group
>>of talkative house finches. this bird had white cheeks and a white
>>spot at the base of its upper mandible. the markings were so odd
>>that i stopped dead in my tracks and just stared at it, not sure
>>of its identity. the bird became nervous and popped up to a higher
>>branch, where it apparently felt safer. at that point, it began
>>to make its cheery call notes, and i realized it was a house finch.
>>i then noticed that there were house finches all around it in the
>>surrounding branches, and they were of both genders and in various
>>stages of brilliant red coloring.
>>
>>after seeing this bird, i have begun to wonder (yet again) why birders
>>refer to birds with oddly-placed patches of white (or yellow) as
>>"partial albinos" instead of "pied mutations," as do the
>>aviculturists.
>>
>> Deborah Wisti-Peterson email:nyneve at u.washington.edu
>>Department of Zoology, University of Washington, Seattle, Wash, USA
>> Visit me on the web: http://weber.u.washington.edu/~nyneve/
>><><><>Graduate School: it's not just a job, it's an indenture!<><><>
>>
>>
>
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