Female Cassin’s Finch – Nikon D300, f8, 1/800, ISO 400, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light
Just a simple post this morning of a female Cassin’s Finch I photographed last May in Clark County, Idaho. She is much duller than the male Cassin’s Finches are but I think she is beautiful just the same.
Last Saturday I posted a Pine Siskin which looks similar to this female Cassin’s Finch but the bill on a Cassin’s Finch female is much larger and thicker than a Pine Siskin’s and female Cassin’s Finches will not show any yellow on the wingbars. There are other differences in plumage patterns as well.
I hope that this year I can get a photograph of a male and female in the same frame but the day I photographed this one she was the only Cassin’s Finch in sight.
Life is good.
Mia
Click here to see more of my Cassin’s Finch photos plus facts and information about this species.
Nice image. I was just reading about a respiratory disease that affects their eyes: So far, the disease (mycoplasmal conjunctivitis) is most prominent in the eastern population of House Finches. However, a few reports of the disease have been confirmed in American Goldfinches, Purple Finches, Evening Grosbeaks, and Pine Grosbeaks, all members of the family Fringillidae.
A charmer.
You really got me going with this photo today. Just last week we saw a Cassin’s Sparrow at Hueco Tanks State Park (El Paso, TX), and it is amazing how similar this female Finch is to the Sparrow. I had to check my Sibley guide to find out that they were two separate birds and figure out that what we had seen was the Sparrow. This photo is a beautiful portrait.
What a cute little lady…has me wondering what kind of bird I really saw on our niger feeder this morning….thought it wasa Pine siskinbut nowI’m not so sure…for one thing, it wasn’t part of a flock,..