Yellow House Finch

[Jeffar]

i didn't quite know what this bird untill i grabbed my camera and zoomed in on him a bit. i've never seen one around here before.

Sibleys says that the colour change is due to their diet.. i wonder what it is that he was eating?

[Gord]

Jeff, good shots and good eye to spot something different!

Ive read a bit here and there about these colour variations being caused by diet but have a hard time swallowing that (pardon the pun! ;D ) Ive seen the odd House Finch that is yellow and plenty that are not red but more of an orange. Most seem to be red though. What I wonder is what is the yellow guy getting/not getting to be yellow? At my feeders these guys feed side by side and seem to inhabit the same habitat with the same food. Why are they different? What skills does the red guy have that the yellow one doesnt to get the red-feather-making food? I figure since most are red, then it cant be that hard considering the niche that finches inhabit. Or is it the other way? The yellow is caused by some special food. I would wonder if that is the case as food cant be too hard to come by and natural selection will probably favour the one that is able to get the food most easily obtained.

I know Im speaking in general terms here, but I hope the general idea of my thoughts makes sense.

[Jeffar]

hey Gord
i did a little digging into this as well the words " carotenoid pigments" comes up alot..
i guess that some birds don't get certain pigments during their molt and thus turn yellow

www.birds.cornell.edu/pfw/AboutBirdsandFeeding/HoufinColorVariants.htm

or for a little heavier reading:
findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3793/is_200110/ai_n8971206

[trudi]

Hi Jeff
I had these guys in my garden last week...i just thought they were house finches although i am not the best with the songs but that is what got my attention,it was a song I hadn't heard before and it was loud !!

[butterfly]

That's a very interesting subject Jeff. Some Canary breeders often use feed high in carotenoids to increase the colour of the birds.

[Gord]

Good info, Jeff!! Seems I was a little off-track with my thoughts there. Thanks tons for sharing.