house finch

[jonny_redhorse]

not much going on today or the last few days with the camera so decided to put he sneak on this finch in my front yard......wind was blowin hard in gusts ...tough to keep steady....I noticed a lot of house finches are at my feeders......redpolls....and a few gold finches changing into the brighter "yellows" of their summer plumage......jonny

[Steve Foss]

Nice blur effect, Mr. Redhorse. It's becoming your signature!

Sure that's not a purple finch?

We've still got redpolls too, though I don't expect them to hang around much longer. The snow's gone from our yard and is barely left in the woods. We've had robins for about a week, the juncos are back, and as you said, the goldfinches are changing colors. We also have had migratory Canada geese, all three types of mergansers and goldeneye for the last week or so.

Next I expect puddle ducks and several species of sparrow, including white-crowned, Harris and white-throated. We've had two white-throateds at the feeders all winter.

I'm wondering what's going on down south there in Dotchland! Eh, Dotch?

[jonny_redhorse]

Steve...It could very well be a purple finch! ...I have my "National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Birds(eastern region)opened up here and the bird kinda looks like an "inbetween" of each bird....go figure......whatever it is ,it's trying to build a nest(along with his girl friend) over my front porch light....lol!...neat to watch em ..... been hauling in little twigs and sticks for 2 days now(my wife's not really happy about it).......had my camera set at "5 megs"(instead of 9) so didn't want to crop it much.....would blurr to much ....I set ISO to "80" with the clear blue sky and all...been trying to manually set the camera settings instead of the "auto" settings provided....and manually focused this shot instead of auto focus.....still quite a learning curve...........yup.i think it is a purple finch...jonny

same shot without "blurring" affect...not sure which is better

[Dotch]

Quote:

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I'm wondering what's going on down south there in Dotchland! Eh, Dotch?

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Wish you were here to ID some of the little warblers and what not that frequent the thickets Steve. Simply can't find the time right now to sit still that long. Have an update in the Fencelines column that I should get on here yet tonite or tomorrow before I have to go to yet another soybean rust meeting. (sigh) I think that is a purple finch that jonny captured so well in his lens. Doesn't look like enough striping for a house finch but the last time I guessed about that hawk that someone was wondering about I was dead wrong. Did see a male house finch here with a wad of nest building material in his mouth this AM. Never can find their nests but they always seem to bring their young to the bird feeders when they're old enough.