Bird Watching

[Sam Murdoch]

Lee, I believe it is the second bird in the second picture that is being questioned. Just to the right of the male cardinal.
I believe it is a female cardinal, others believe it is a finch.

David, purple finches are not very common anymore, but house finches, which look similar, the males both have red, are more common.

I'm voting house finch. It is difficult to see but the 2nd bird at the right side of the cardinal in the 2nd photo is more evidently a male house finch. The beak is the wrong color for a cardinal - male or female - and the wing bars are white as seen on the male house finch. The wing tips of the female cardinal would be red and without the distinctive pattern seen here.

[Jim Underwood]

I think that's a Cardinal Buzzard. Look out, he'll start vandalizing your dog's dead squirrel stash...

[Lee Schierer]

Lee, I believe it is the second bird in the second picture that is being questioned. Just to the right of the male cardinal.
I believe it is a female cardinal, others believe it is a finch.

David, purple finches are not very common anymore, but house finches, which look similar, the males both have red, are more common.

The second bird in the second photo is in fact a house finch. I was paying so much attention to the bald cardinal that I didn't see the second bird.

[Don Morris]

I have had two cardinals with head mites. Both looked similar to the original photos. In fact one of them was the father of a nest in the dogwood which sits smack in the center of our yard. We watched as the nest was built, populated, and the young hatched. He was attentive and the family was successful. Unfortunately, cardinals don't often nest in the same place twice, although the nest withstood several strong storms into the following year. Over the years our bird feeders support several families of cardinals, but only twice have I had males with that condition.

[David Weaver]

David, purple finches are not very common anymore, but house finches, which look similar, the males both have red, are more common.

Yeah, I have to stretch back to remember what was at a feeder in SCPA about 20 years ago. What happened to purple finches, did they get pushed out by something else?

They came to our feeders in gobs and kept all of the *desirable* birds from being able to eat. Wherever they went, I wish the european starlings would follow them.

[Bill Edwards(2)]

Could be a Zombie Cardinal Don't let it bite you!

Seeds! must have seeds!

[Phil Thien]

I'd hate to be a cardinal right now, don't get me started on the stress involved in (for example) selecting a new pope.

[Larry Whitlow]

i think it is a mohawk.

[Rich Stewart]

That is a married Cardinal.

[Tom Fischer]

A pair of Hooded Mergansers showed up in the pond yesterday.
March 1. Guess they have a calendar.
I watched him go right into the "courting dance" then mating, in the pond.
And synchronized divers. Just amazing.
David Attenborough stuff.
Should have had the movie camera charged. My mistake.
This pic from this morning, from nearly 100 yards (they definitely DO NOT like people being nearby)
They will be in Canada week after next.
Bon Voyage!

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