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.
I didn't have the good fortune to photograph another Cassin's Finch on my trip so I am glad I took the time to take photos of this one looking around his home in the Centennial Valley of Montana.
Two years ago today I was in Beaverhead County, Montana photographing Cassin's Finches foraging on the seeds of dandelions on a morning that had sunshine and plenty of fog.
I was so happy to photograph this mixture of spring birds at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge that I had a hard time picking out which birds and which photos to share.
This American Goldfinch feeding upside down on seeds over the snow-covered field has always made me chuckle a bit because of the pose of the finch.
At times the male Cassin's Finch looked like he was on alert but I can't be sure why, it might have been because of the other finches nearby or that he was keeping an eye out for predators in the sky.
Cassin's Finch males look to me like they have been dipped in raspberry juice and that color is very vibrant especially in sweet light.
Yesterday was a delight in the West Desert because there were plentiful birds to photograph including this male Spotted Towhee singing on its territory.
Just a simple post this morning of a female Cassin's Finch I photographed last May in Clark County, Idaho.
Last year in May on my first trip of the year up to Montana and Idaho I was able to take a few images of Pine Siskins in Clark County, Idaho.
House Finches are fairly common birds throughout the U.S. Mexico and into Central America but they didn't used to be common in the eastern U.S.
Even though the American Goldfinches are in their non-breeding plumage now I still think of them as gold.
I enjoyed my journey to Beaver Dam Wash, Gunlock State Park and the Mojave Desert even though I didn't see the birds I hoped to photograph, every journey is an adventure.
One of the biggest surprises for me on my recent trip to southern Utah was coming across a "bouquet" of 500 or more Black Rosy-Finches that were foraging along the side of Utah State Highway 24.
I've only had one opportunity to photograph Cassin's Finches so far and that was in the small town of Lakeview where the headquarters of Red Rock Lakes national Wildlife Refuge is located.
While exploring the area and it's breath taking beauty I spotted a large flock of Pine Siskins feeding on the seedheads of Mule Ears (Wyethia amplexicaulis).