This info. may be boring/redundant to others, but for those of us who are new birders in the area, thank you for taking the time to offer additional info. The best way for many of us to learn is to see something new (at least to us!) and try to ID it.

Karla Grimwood
Carnation (Lake Marcel), WA
p_grimwood at msn.com

----- Original Message -----
From: David Allinson
Sent: Thursday, June 13, 2002 12:07 PM
To: Tweeters
Subject: Photo ID and yellow/orange House Finches

Not to beat this to death, but at least here in south-western BC, I see orange or yellow-type House Finches at least once/twice a month (in different settings, but perhaps more in "urban" areas). Frankly, just how often a birder sees odd-looking plumages may be in part to do with how often one is in field (frequency). Furthermore, field guides should not be considered the "gospel" or final word on where/what birds occur (the authors never intend them to be that; mention of every possible plumage and location/range/out-of-range occurrence would make for a rather large book)! Aberrant plumages can certainly throw us off mark, but this teaches us all not just to rely on "typical" field mark identification. Frankly, the size, shape, voice, and overall 'jizz' of birds are much more reliable identification clues than just its colour/color. To me, the bird in that [indeed, excellent] photo simply just "looks" like a House Finch, even if one ignores its odd colour! Aberrant plumage/leucism/melanism/staining occurs in most bird families, not to mention how "different" a moulting, post-breeding bird can appear! I should also mention that another equally good [better?!] field guide is National Geographic's "Field Guide to Birds of North America" (3rd ed.). However, the Peterson, Sibley, and National Geographic field guides all have excellent introductory chapters worth (re-)reading.

For reference, Sibley shows an aberrant House Finch at bottom of page 529 of his guide, and National Geographic shows it on page 449. Sibley briefly discusses aberrant plumage on page 12-13 (and more detail as editor in his second book "The Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behaviour"). Paul Ehrlich et al's "The Birder's Handbook: A Field Guide to the Natural History of North American Birds" and Kenn Kaufman's "Lives of North American Birds" also no doubt have sections on this topic. Unfortunately, I do not know of any specific internet/on-line resources for aberrant plumages in House Finch.

However, I am still hoping Washington's Little Blue Heron makes its way north a bit to here in Victoria! Our recent Snowy Egret (5th local record) appears to have left area after staying for about a week.

David Allinson
President, Rocky Point Bird Observatory
572 Atkins Avenue
Victoria, BC
V9B 3A3
Ph. (250)391-1786

Web site: www.islandnet.com/~rpbo
273 species and counting!
Look for a bargraph checklist coming soon.

"Not everything that can be counted counts,
and not everything that counts can be counted."
Albert Einstein
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