The red on cardueline finches is a different red from that on cardinals and tanagers. The house finch red is dependent on biochemical processing of certain nutrients in their diets. I used to have a reference for this, but I can't find it at the moment. Out west, it is not uncommon to see house finches ranging from deep rose through pink to orange and even yellow. I personally believe that the process is hormone-linked as well. It seems to me that western house finches are all pretty uniform by the middle of the breeding season. Cheers, BOB¢¼ On Jan 18, 2008 10:20 PM, Al La Sala <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > I saw a large flock of about 15-20 house finches at Sharon Woods Metropark > about 2 weeks ago with both orange and red finches. > > -----Original Message----- > From: Ohio birds [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of > Heather Nagy > Sent: Friday, January 18, 2008 8:51 PM > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Re: [Ohio-birds] Finch of a different Color > > Bruce, about a quarter of the house finches that come to my feeders in the > wintertime are orange, but I rarely see one in the summer. The past few > weeks I've had about 10 to 15 orange (or yellowish) finches hanging > around. > > Heather Nagy > Licking County > > -----Original Message----- > From: Ohio birds [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of > Bruce > Miller > Sent: Friday, January 18, 2008 6:00 PM > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: [Ohio-birds] Finch of a different Color > > Just a plain old house finch, but I don't remember ever seeing an orange > one, except in pictures. > At my feeder, Columbus, OH > > Are these guys common, just not to me? > > http://redtail.smugmug.com/photos/244739368-L.jpg > > http://redtail.smugmug.com/photos/244739540-L.jpg > > http://redtail.smugmug.com/photos/244739072-L.jpg > > Happy Birding, > > Bruce Miller > Columbus, OH > _________________________________________________________________ > Connect and share in new ways with Windows Live. > > http://www.windowslive.com/share.html?ocid=TXT_TAGHM_Wave2_sharelife_012008 > ______________________________________________________________________ > > Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. > Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. > Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at > www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. > > You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: > http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS > Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask] > > ______________________________________________________________________ > > Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. > Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. > Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at > www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. > > You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: > http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS > Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask] > > ______________________________________________________________________ > > Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. > Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. > Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at > www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. > > You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: > http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS > Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask] > -- Robert D Powell Wilmington, OH, USA [log in to unmask] http://rdp1710.wordpress.com Nulla dies sine linea