Today I was looking out at my birdfeeder watching female Purple Finch chow down on its favorite sunflower seeds and wasn't paying really close attention. A pair of Gold-Crowned Sparrows and a pair of White-Crowned Finches have been hanging out with the two pairs of Purple Finches that have adopted my feeder. I recognized that the bird wasn't a white-crowned and grabbed my binoculars. I am not a professional by any means, but I am spending at least an hour a day studying my bird books. This bird stumped me. I thought it was a sparrow, and I really am not great at telling the difference. I wrote down the markings as fast as I could so I wouldn't lose the image as soon as the bird flew away. The color of the beak was right, and it was ducking so rapidly into the feeder that I didn't really get a good look at the shape, just its color and the color of the feet as well as the primary markings. It amazed me when I found what I was looking for with a picture and description of a Gray-Crowned Rosy Finch. It was either a female or an immature bird, and with the time of year, I am "assuming" that it was a female. There wasn't the rosy red color or else I missed it, but the sun was shining brightly right onto the feeder. The bird had a light colored head and a streak down the top of it. It had a light colored head like the white crowneds, but what really made me look at it was the brilliant "rust" colored "cape" that it was wearing.

This is a first for me for this bird, and as I read the book, it really shouldn't have been around Centralia. Has anyone else seen this bird? I am 99.99% sure of my identification.

J.V.Bonham
Centralia, WA
jvbonham at msn.com

Also, I really did see an actual male Rufous Hummingbird tonight. Here. At my Feeder. At last!!!! ( 6:00 pm)
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