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Need help in identifying a finch (1 Viewer)

Carolina bugman

New member
I'm in central NC where we feed lots of goldfinches this time of year. Recently I spent several minutes closely watching what appeared to be a female goldfinch, with one distinctive difference. This bird had a bright orange patch on top of her head, triangular in shape about a centimeter on each side. She (?) was unusually inquisitive for a finch, chattering at the window like a cardinal.

Any help in identification would be appreciated.
 
I just finished a thread in which I was fooled for a time by a bird I should have known right away. I have some work to do on yours, but I recall seeing a Saffron Finch here a few years ago. It's a South American species; some live as an introduced species in Jamaica. In NA it's a cage bird, so it would be an escapee.

But this is just from memory. I'll comer back later; I have to check things a bit. Oh--one thing I need to know: "just like a goldfinch" as in small and yellow, or as in detail for detail, feather for feather, swear to it in court? :)
 
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Yeah, I did find a picture. It all depends on how you'd like to describe a goldfinch. A male Saffron Finch is all yellow, without much in the way of markings. A goldfinch has lots of patterning in her wings and tail. As you said, a female goldfinch; but, if it were a Saffron Finch, it would be a male, which is all yellow with a nice orange color at the top of his head. Also, Saffron Finches are pretty tame--even wild ones.

But you need to paint a more detailed picture. Meantime, anybody else have a better suggestion?
 
Carson said:
But you need to paint a more detailed picture. Meantime, anybody else have a better suggestion?


Being new to this group, I managed to send my earlier replies to Carson out into the ether.

In short, based on size, shape, color and wing banding, it was a female goldfinch except for one or two differences. First, a BRILLIANT orange triangular-shaped patch on top of the head, very well-defined, with no blurry edges. At first I thought it was a goldfinch with a bloody head but the color was wrong and on close inspection through the glass, the orange patch was composed of normal feathers. It looked like a dyed goldfinch except that I've never seen that shade from berries, etc. Second, the beak MIGHT have been sharper and more narrow than the average goldfinch.

Any more suggestions?
 
Hi Carolina Bugman and welcome to Bird Forum from all the Moderators and Admin. staff.
I've no idea what bird you saw, but some one of our USA experts will sort it out for you eventually.
 
Hmm, sorry, "I can't get to there from here." Your description is nice and clear, but all it suggests to me is a goldfinch with an orange head patch! (I'll watch to see where this one goes. I think my recently-met European friends might say, "Playing it safe, are we?!?")

Good luck.
 
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