[Birdtalk] Cassin's Finch Weirdness

Tue Dec 18 08:28:55 MST 2007

Kris or whomever, 

Could you please do a short refresher on how to tell a Cassin's from a
House finch?  Obviously I'm showing my ignorance here, but I never feel
positive about my IDs for these critters.  I have 50-100 finches feeding
outside my office window and I know one of them HAS to be a Cassin's.  

Did you know that the Cassin's finch is listed as Near Threatened on the
International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources?
http://www.iucnredlist.org/search/details.php/53467/all

Thanks, 

Ann

________________________________

From: birdtalk-bounces at utahbirds.org
[mailto:birdtalk-bounces at utahbirds.org] On Behalf Of Colby Neuman
Sent: Monday, December 17, 2007 11:46 PM
To: birdtalk at utahbirds.org
Subject: Re: [Birdtalk] Cassin's Finch Weirdness

Kris and others,

The Salt Lake CBC surprisingly missed Cassin's Finch this year as well.
Unfortunately, my parents house in Olympus Cove is outside the count
circle because they've had between 2-5 Cassin's Finches coming for about
the last three weeks.  They had one or two coming in October with about
a three week hiatus in early to mid November.  I don't have ebird data
from past years (trying to be diligent this year so I can start
examining past data), but I seem to mostly remember Cassin's Finches
showing up during migration at the their house.  

Colby

On Dec 17, 2007 8:46 PM, Stephen Peterson <cllslp at msn.com> wrote:

I have had a couple of male and female Cassin's Finches that have been
hanging around my feeders and
birdbath for the past two months here in Logan. I first saw them the end
of October. They do not make a regular appearance 
everyday, but show up maybe once or twice a week, and only for a short
duration. I saw a single male just yesterday afternoon.
He stopped by just to get a drink and then took off.

Stephen
---------------------------------------- 
> From: kristinpurdy at comcast.net
> To: birdtalk at utahbirds.org
> Date: Mon, 17 Dec 2007 17:45:21 -0700
> Subject: [Birdtalk] Cassin's Finch Weirdness 

>
> Wasatch Audubon didn't record Cassin's Finches on our bird count on
> Saturday, so it was a welcome surprise to Jack Rensel to find six
under his
> feeder in Ogden, Weber County, yesterday morning. He lives in the
count 
> circle and hasn't seen them in his yard for six weeks to two months.
>
> I conveniently arranged some yard birding around lunchtime by locking
myself
> out of the house and then waiting for my husband to come home and
rescue me. 
> I was killing time in the yard and aimed my binocs at a finch in
treetops
> not visible from inside. It was the first male Cassin's Finch I've
seen in
> the yard since early November. Another was across the street in my 
> neighbor's hawthorne with a swarm of robins and House Finches. How
weird is
> that? I wouldn't have seen these birds had my keys been in my pocket
where
> they were supposed to be before I locked the door. Now, that's a 
> lemons-to-lemondade scenario!
>
> The coincidence of neither Jack nor I hosting this species in a couple
> months and then both of us seeing them in our yards in successive days
is
> too much. Has anyone else seen Cassin's Finches after their extended 
> absence?
>
> Today was another two-Merlin day also; one bird was perched
precariously in
> a treetop in my neighborhood, tail bobbing like a kestrel as it failed
to
> curl those long toes around a skinny branch; the other was on the same
old 
> power pole across from the Denny's on South Harrison Blvd about 1/10
mile
> north of the Harrison-US-89 intersection. That's the third time in
about
> three weeks for a Merlin on that same pole. 
>
> Kris
>
>
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