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March 27, 2010

Songbird

Today, Jen and I were outside playing in the snow and I heard this crazy songbird. His song was just amazing...beautiful, varied, loud, and lengthy. And I thought to myself..."what is that bird?"

I know from my bird research last year that it's a male singing, and he's trying to attract a mate. That's the primary reason songbirds sing. And it's springtime. So, I'm glad that I've noticed these little things going on in the world around me. Not that it matters, necessarily. Just that it feels cool to be informed. To be "in the loop", as it were.

So I walked around until I found out for sure what was singing and it was, to my surprise, a House finch (Carpodacus mexicanus). I've posted to Whatbird, as always.

Above: Male House Finch (Carpodacus mexicanus) on Wendy's feeder.

He sounded something like this (not my recording).

Update: Now that I'm looking at the photos I took of this bird, I'm not sure it's a House finch after all. I'm actually leaning toward a Cassin's Finch at this point.

Update 2: This bird has a bright red cap, and red frontal area, and lacks prominent brown streaking on the chest of a House finch. So, a Cassin's Finch it is. :)

Above: Male Cassin's Finch (Carpodacus cassinii).

Above: Male Cassin's Finch (Carpodacus cassinii).

Above: Male Cassin's Finch (Carpodacus cassinii).

Posted by Rob Kiser on March 27, 2010 at 10:41 AM

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