Yellow House Finch? (1 Viewer)

I have heard of yellow molt house finches, but is this one?

House finches come in all kinds of colors, from yellow to orange to red and every shade in between.

But this is a pretty interesting bird. It's got the white facial pattern and cresty head of a Purple finch, but the lighter, less bold streaking of a house finch, and of course the yellow wash to the breast (which Purple doesn't have, although the female Purple can have a buffy wash to the flanks). However, house finch would have the coloring on the forehead and over the eyes as well as on the breast, but this bird isn't showing that. I sucked your photo into other software to lighten it a bit, and I think there may be yellowish colors in the crown but it's so faint I'm not really sure.

In short, I don't have a clue what this is. House finch would be unusual for your area, right? And Purple more likely. I'm going to have to defer to the more knowledgable birders on the east coast on this one.

It's a female type purple finch - the strength of that cheek patch rules out house for me as does the white supercilium - purple can reasonably often show streaking on the undertail coverts which this bird seems to have although this is often given as a fieldmark to seperate these birds.

Luke

Thank you Katy I think you're right about the House Finch being a bit rarer in my area, which should have made me suspect a Purple. (Love your avatar, BTW) Steatham seems convinced, so that seals the deal for me -- I'll label this one a Purple Finch. Thanks to you both! I'm still a bit weak on small birds but more time behind the lens will fix that. The weather looks good at the cottage so I think I'll pack up my stuff and book it. A-hiking I will go...

The range maps should also support one or the other, but you did not say which section of Ontario you are in. It's a big province!