I just got home from work this afternoon, did a few things in the kitchen, then looked out the window at our feeders. There was a strange bird on the hopper feeder and since I did not recognize it, I first tried to figure it as an aberrant American Goldfinch. But it differed in so many ways that I quickly ruled that out and yelled to Betsy in the cool basement to come upstairs. This was a chunky bird and larger than a couple of female-type House Finches. It had a heavy conical bill, dark on the maxilla and pinkish on the lower mandible. The wings and tail were gray with obvious yellow. In some angles and light the upper body and underbody looked fairly uniform greenish yellow. At other times, the ventral body looked more yellow. The lores were dark grayish or blackish.
Betsy took some photos, which we will put up on her web site when we get a chance. There were no bands. However, it seems much more likely that this is an escape. There have been relatively large numbers of several species of European finches in the mid west and around the Great Lakes in recent years. European Goldfinch is the predominant species reported but European Greenfinches have been reported as well. A report will be submitted to the NYSARC, as they like to keep track of introduced as well as naturally occurring species. Good birding! Willie ---------------- Willie D'Anna Betsy Potter Wilson, NY dannapotterATroadrunner.com http://www.betsypottersart.com -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
