Great photos! I would guess an American Goldfinch that has just come out with a bit different colouring. We have had the same thing with a Pine Siskin lately. A greyish head and very dark body. Thanks for a peek at your album; it's really great.
Thanks for all your comments. It is fun to share our sightings, especially when they are unusual. I have been doing a bit of research into bird colouring, and agree with Val. Sometimes a bird just has extra black. This even has a name, melanistic. It is the opposite of being albino, or leucistic.
Looks like a Goldfinch. Acts like a Goldfinch. Has too much black for a Goldfinch.
7 comments:
Very interesting looking girl! Looks somewhat bedraggled - maybe the dark coloring is molt induced?
Do birds inter-breed? Could he be half sparrow?
I was wondering about half Pine Siskin which is at least in the same family.
Maybe it is a lesser goldfinch that got too far north.
Great photos! I would guess an American Goldfinch that has just come out with a bit different colouring. We have had the same thing with a Pine Siskin lately. A greyish head and very dark body. Thanks for a peek at your album; it's really great.
Val T - McTaggart
Thanks for all your comments. It is fun to share our sightings, especially when they are unusual. I have been doing a bit of research into bird colouring, and agree with Val. Sometimes a bird just has extra black. This even has a name, melanistic. It is the opposite of being albino, or leucistic.
No kidding! Great photos again! I thought maybe it he just got really dirty. :)
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