Families: Fringillidae, Passeridae, Ploceidae, Estrilididae
Finches are small to medium sized birds with pointed wings, notched tails, stout bills, and distinctive flight calls. Female finches can be quite plain while males can be quite colorful.
One of the last birds I photographed on my recent trip to Bear River MBR was this male House Sparrow, perched on a lichen-covered rock south of the Bear River.
I'm always happy to have a Pine Siskin in my viewfinder. When I saw this siskin five days ago in a Greasewood, I thought about how easily they can blend in.
I was thrilled to take several male Lesser Goldfinch images on my last trip to Farmington Bay WMA. It was a bright, sunny day, and I was enjoying it and myself.
I photographed this male House Finch at Farmington Bay WMA 3 days ago. I noticed that he seemed dull compared to male House Finches I saw in Arkansas this year.
I was tickled to photograph this female House Finch last week in sunflowers that had gone to seed. I liked the finch, the autumn colors, and the morning light.
Having fast reflexes and being able to stop my Jeep quickly helped me photograph this male Lesser Goldfinch under a leafy umbrella three days ago.
When I was at Farmington Bay WMA last week, I had a chonky American Goldfinch fly in and land on a greasewood in front of me. Of course, I took photos of it.
I photographed this Lesser Goldfinch from the nature center parking lot of Farmington Bay WMA last week. Would you have known that if I hadn't mentioned it?
When I photographed this male House Sparrow in Arkansas, I wasn't thinking about how people love to hate this species. I was simply taking photos of a bird.
I'm sharing just a few photos of female House Finches this morning that I took while I was visiting my friend, Steve Creek, in Arkansas last month.
The heavy snowpack is still making it impossible for me to get into the mountains to photograph birds like this male American Goldfinch in breeding plumage.
I was able to get outside in the bitter cold for about an hour yesterday and found myself focused on a female House Finch eating crabapples close to home.
After I cleared the snow from my Jeep yesterday morning, I went out for a bit and took a few male House Finch photos as they feasted on crabapples.
While I was at Farmington Bay WMA two days ago, this foraging female House Finch next to the road caught my eyes in the early morning light.
I was happy to have this male American Goldfinch perched with ripe serviceberries in front of him for a few moments yesterday high in the mountains.
Right after I photographed a juvenile Lazuli Bunting two days ago a female American Goldfinch landed in a patch of thistles in front of me.
Today I am keeping my post short and simple with a male American Goldfinch in his breeding plumage perched high above a Wasatch Mountain creek.
This morning I wanted to share some photos of the birds and blooms that I took images of one morning last week while I was high in the Wasatch Mountains.
Yesterday I mentioned that a Pine Siskin chased away the Chipping Sparrow that I shared photos of. This is that Pine Siskin perched on another sage.
Today is World Sparrow Day and since I love all of the sparrows on the planet I thought I'd share some of the sparrows I have photographed in North America.
Just a simple photo this morning of a male House Finch perched on a greasewood in front of an old red barn at Farmington Bay WMA.
Last week I spent some time with American Goldfinches in their winter plumage in my viewfinder and had fun photographing them.
Last week I had the opportunity to take a nice long series of an orange variant male House Finch while it ate the seeds of a greasewood.
Yesterday morning I was high in the Wasatch Mountains photographing bees on a Musk Thistle when a Pine Siskin landed on the flower.
At the end of June I had a few moments to focus on an adult male American Goldfinch perched on a chokecherry tree high in the Wasatch Mountains.
Yesterday I photographed this male American Goldfinch and thought about how he is as bright as the dandelions that are blooming now in the mountains.
When this female Cassin's Finch landed next to a creek two days ago in the West Desert I was happy to take her photo.
This is my 2020 photographic year in review. I'm selecting some of my favorite photos from 2020 and a few that just make me happy to see them.
Yesterday morning the first birds I spotted and photographed was a pair of adult Red-tailed Hawks side by side on a rocky ledge in early morning light.
Cassin's Finches are year round residents in Utah but I don't see or photograph them nearly as often as I would like.