Greenfinch with a red beak (1 Viewer)

[leica]

I saw a bird in my garden yesterday that looked like a greenfinch, however it was very bright green with a pale pink beak rising to bright red. Any idea as to what is was?
It is becoming quite a regular at my feeders and seems quite happy with other finches and sparrows .

 

[RockyRacoon]

Perhaps it had been dipping its beak into a flower, sometimes pollen, from certain flowers, collects on the beaks of birds who drink the nectar inside. Although I do not know if Greenfinches are known for doing this, because I thought they primarily ate seeds, with just a few insects in their diets..

 

[jforgham]

Could be some form of escaped cagebird e.g. parakeet species? Try googling some photos.
regards,
Jono

 

[deborah4]

Hi Leica

I've also a Greenfinch hanging round my feeder with exactly the same description. The males are very bright green anyway but re the beak ... 'mine' is pale pink rising to a clear red patch on top of nostril to base of forehead - At first I thought it was just peanut shelling, then it looked too red, so thought an injury, but been scoping past few days, the 'red' is exactly where caged birds get wire damage, so now I'm figuring it's actually from the peanut feeder which has been heavily subscribed to for the past few weeks with this bird in particular struggling to get remaining peanuts out as they ran low. This morning, with feeders full again and the bird back, it suddenly occurred to me that the coating on my wire feeders is red! So now I'm thinking is it paint off the feeder?! I'm hoping it isn't damage caused by the wire feeders - not sure how much skin & flesh covers the cartilage at the top of the bill?!