greenfinch plumage variation? (1 Viewer)

Hi all,
This is the second year that I've had quite large (30+) flocks of greenfinch attending the sunflower heart feeders. This year there's been an interesting male visiting. He has all the usual greenfinch markings but also has quite a large amount of orange on the face, in a thin orange line down the belly, and a few orangey marks on the mantle. The edges of the primaries also look a bit more yellow than usual.
I'm pretty sure it's a plumage variation as opposed to some stains it's picked up from somewhere but I can't be certain.
Does anyone know any more about this?
andyb

Hi Andy,

I'd be suspecting an escaped cagebird, most likely a Greenfinch x Canary hybrid

Michael

Could it be Pollen stains?
CJ

Thanks both for replying so quickly. I googled for greenfinch x canary hybrids and it does look possible. 'My' greenfinch is a lot less russety than the individuals I saw pictured though.
I can't rule out staining but the markings are very symmetrical. I'll keep an eye out for it over the next few weeks. If it's still about then I guess they will be genuine markings.

Hi Andy,
There are also some flavistic (yellow) mutants in greenfinch (also in siskin and serin), where the whole bird or parts of it are canary-yellow. Those are bred in captivity but can also occur in the wild.
They have the jizz of a greenfinch (or siskin or serin, respectively)
The hybrids with canary have a slightly different jizz than the pure species. Orange colours would make a hybrid with a canary more likely, though.

Hope that helps

Jörn

Thanks for the information.
This bird was exactly the same shape as a normal greenfinch. I fancied it could have been a shade larger than the others but this could be just because it stood out more. It had all the regular markings of a greenfinch and bill shape was exactly the same.
However it had this rusty/orange 'wash' in a regular pattern over the body as I'd described. Rather like the colours on a brambling. It was still pretty green though.
I'm trying to get a photo of it but with an old 35mm SLR and 200mm lens, it could take a while!
andyb

Talking of odd Greenfinches, here is a message I posted on uk.rec.birdwatching last July. I only got a couple of replies there (one from a chap who said he had a few males like this). I'd be curious to hear of any similar cases.

"This morning I had what appeared to be an erythritic male Greenfinch briefly on one of my feeders. The yellow flashes on the wings and tail seemed to be as normal, but the body, while still green (just), was evenly admixed with a distinct chesnut tinge which made the whole bird look quite rufous.The brown tones recalled a male Chaffinch's underparts, but much duller and the green showed through everywhere. When it first landed in the tree I wondered whether it might be an effect of the sun since I could envisage a bird looking like this in the light of a red evening sunset, but as soon as it joined the other Greenfinches at the feeders it was obvious that the colour was genuine. It was much more richly brown than the females and juveniles present. I've heard of albino and xanthistic Greenfinches, but not an erythritic one. Anyone else come across one?"

Jason