I had two on my feeders about a month ago that were Copper colored. It was
a sunny day and they glowed. Really threw me for a loop about ID at first
but I finally concluded they must be house finches. They were quite
beautiful and I haven't seen them back since.

Thank you,
Cathy Wise
cathy.wise at attws.com
Marysville, WA

> ----------
> From: Joanne H. Powell[SMTP:jhpowell at iea.com]
> Reply To: jhpowell at iea.com
> Sent: Monday, February 05, 2001 5:38 AM
> To: ixoreus at home.com; smuttart at qwest.net; tweeters
> Subject: Re: House Finches
>
> Hi, Bob and all:
>
> We did have a thread going a couple of years ago on house finch
> coloration.
> Back in the olden days when I was doing bird tours for the LA zoo the head
> of the department said house finches were especially sensitive to
> chromatic
> mutation. When I lived in S. Calif. I had house finches in purpley-red,
> the
> "ordinary" red that we mostly see here, fire-engine red, golden-orange
> like
> an oriole, and bright yellow...all in the same location (at my feeders in
> Topanga Canyon in the Santa Monica mountains) so food didn't seem to be
> the
> determining factor. Since I've been up here in eastern Washington I mostly
> get the "ordinary" red but with a few apricot/peach color that I've not
> seen
> anywhere else. I'm looking forward to other postings on this.
>
> Regards, Joanne
> Reardan (Spokane) WA
> mailto: jhpowell at iea.com
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Robert Sundstrom <ixoreus at home.com>
> To: smuttart at qwest.net <smuttart at qwest.net>; tweeters
> <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
> Date: Sunday, February 04, 2001 5:50 PM
> Subject: Re: House Finches
>
>
> >Hi Susan/Tweeters,
> >
> >Male House Finches with yellow coloration where males typically show red
> to
> >red-orange are a very small but regular fraction of the population. I
> also
> >have one coming to my feeder this winter, and they turn up in many large
> >flocks of House Finches. I seem to have read and already forgotten that
> >someone has attempted to link this to nutrition or something to do with
> >physiology. No doubt other tweets will pick up this thread with a more
> >thorough dissertation.
> >
> >Regards, Bob Sundstrom
> >
> >ixoreus at home.com
> >
> >----- Original Message -----
> >From: "Susan in WA" <smuttart at qwest.net>
> >To: "Tweeters" <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
> >Sent: Sunday, February 04, 2001 12:46 PM
> >Subject: House Finches
> >
> >
> >> I subscribe to this list because I feed the birds, I like reading
> >> about other people's bird experiences, and I have a desire to learn.
> >> I am strictly a novice birder. I don't belong to any bird group
> >> (unless you count Tweeters as a kind of 'group'), I don't go out in
> >> the field on any kind of regular basis, and most of my identifications
> >> come from watching the birds in my backyard. So, if the following
> >> question sounds a little silly to some of you more experienced
> >> birders, I hope you will understand from whence I come.
> >>
> >> How common is the yellow house finch in Washington?
> >>
> >> --
> >> Susan in WA
> >> Sumner, Washington
> >> email: smuttart at qwest.net
> >>
> >>
> >
>