Red Finches

[kastern]

I took these photos yesterday in the back yard. Two of them are House Finch and the other a Purple Finch for comparison.....what I find interesting on the House Finch is the mixture of colours in the plumage. Has anyone else ever seen that and does anyone have any idea what caused it? I have seen red House Finch, orange House Finch and even yellow House Finch but not this mottled coloration.



This is the 'red' male House Finch



The 'orange' male House Finch



And a male Purple Finch

Kathy

[kastern]

Why aren't my pictures showing up Gord? can you fix it?
Thanks...Kathy

[Gord]

Fixed! Somehow the forum inserted extra tags.

Anyway, I cant say Ive noticed such mottled finches either! I too have seen the varied colours from red to yellow, but in each case the colours were consistent. Weird!

They say diet is responsible for the colouration. If this is true then one might suggest that both these birds were of the yellow/orange variety but then found the diet responsible for the red colours and now that colour is starting to come in.

I sometimes wonder about the diet theory though. Most house finches are red, but you get a few orange or yellow. If most manage to eat enough of the right stuff to be red, then it stands to reason that this food source is readily available. How do a few somehow miss out? Might be fun to band a few yellow house finches from feeders and monitor them and see if they develop red colouring later in life.

I guess another thing to wonder is juvenile males moulting into adult plumage, but aren't they like females with no colour until their first moult.

p.s. what a beautiful purple finch and beautiful pictures!