House Finch

do the bears come to the backyard?!

Agreed! When I am sure the bears are hibernating (which I have heard they may not do some of these mild winters!) I will put up my feeders again and may have a few House Finches and certainly some Purple Finches, which I love the song of too!

Thanks for the correction, Kathleen.
These are very cheerful and winter seems a little sad without them.

Sorry here is the link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_finch...

Hi Jemma. Nice photos of the House Finch. You mention a couple times in your comments that this is an introduced bird. The House Finch is native to southwestern North America where you live and to Mexico.
It was introduced to Eastern North America by cage releases and has spread rapidly there, with the native western population and the introduced eastern populations increasing their range towards the centre of the continent. I have included a link for the Wiki page that talks a bit about this, but you can find it in other places too. I love these birds too and look forward to their visits!

Thnx Luis, The closest we can come to a cardinal :)

Great shots Jemma!

Thank you.

Beautiful !

Thank you Antonio. this is an introduced species and is a great addition. Very cheerful. The entire day you can here them talking with each other.

Awesome capture Jemma,this bird have a beautiful red chest and the pictures are perfect,congrats and thanks for sharing

thank you. Seema.

beautiful close ups

Thank you bee jacobs.These are introduced species and a great addition. They bring a lot of cheer with their sweet songs.Some times thru the nite.Very social birds.

Wow, great additions Jemma. Amazing detail.

added more pictures of this cute bird.

Thank you Bee and 608bcd.

Hi Jemma,

I would agree that it is a house finch. The distinguishing characteristic on the males are the darkly streaked flanks which you can see beautifully in your picture. Both the purple finch and the Cassin's Finch males lack that streaking. http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/House... Congratulations on another beautiful spotting.

Thank you Ursula.

beautiful spotting-love it! :) if you ask me, this looks a lot like a house finch. it's definitely not cassin's finch, and i would also cross out purple finch. but maybe somebody more adequate should confirm that.