[obol] Re: "which finch" is getting mixed votes
- From: David Irons <llsdirons@xxxxxxx>
- To: "fink.linda@xxxxxxxxx" <fink.linda@xxxxxxxxx>, OBOL Oregon Birders Online <obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 18 Feb 2015 08:00:04 +0000
Greetings All,
I finally had the time to get back to Linda Fink's finch. Several folks have
already weighed in on this bird, listing a number of solid reasons why it is a
Purple Finch. A couple of other things that I noticed are discussed below.
1. Linda's bird has distinct bronzy-greenish tones in the mantle and wing
coverts. Among the Haemorhous finches (Cassin's, House, and Purple), this color
is essentially unique to Purple Finch and for the most part unique to the
western subspecies of Purple Finch (H. purpureus californicus). Note that
eastern males can show some bronze or perhaps even slight greenish tones in the
coverts, but they are generally not as dark above or as bronzy-green above as
western males. The nominate "eastern" subspecies (H. p. purpueus) tends to be
paler overall with paler less-colorful gray-brown upperparts and a whiter base
color to the underparts in female and immature plumages.
2. The undertail coverts of Linda's bird are really white contrasting some with
the slightly dingier base color of the rest of the underparts. As pointed out
by Judy Meredith, the lack of streaking (Linda's bird shows none) is a useful
field mark on adult birds. Until fairly recently, many sources stated that
Purple Finches don't have streaks on the undertail coverts. This is not
entirely correct. Hatch-year birds, particularly when seen within a few
weeks/months out of the nest, often show a fair amount of streaking on the
undertail coverts, which at that age are not as white and more concolor with
the rest of the underparts.
In putting together the BirdFellow "Identification Photos" gallery (link below)
for this species, we tried to offer a mix of both H. p. purpureus and H. p.
californicus. Take a look at image #9 in this gallery. Although this bird looks
superficially like a female House Finch, it is a fresh out of the nest
hatch-year Purple Finch. As I recall it was still tagging around with adults on
the day that I photographed it. If you look closely at the undertail coverts,
they are obviously streaked. I don't know for sure, but I suspect that once
hatch-year birds go through preformative molt–later in the fall of their
hatch-year–the undertail coverts are no longer streaked. Perhaps one the
banders (Mike Patterson or Dennis Vroman) can speak to this. I would also
encourage you to check out image #5 in the gallery. It is a male, which was
also photographed in February (like Linda's bird). It has more extensive
streaking up onto the breast than a typical after second-year male, thus I
think it too is SY (second-year) bird going through its first prealternate
molt.
http://www.birdfellow.com/birds/purple-finch-haemohous-purpureus
Dave Irons
Portland, OR
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