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Purple Finch with white head

16 years ago

A finch came to my feeder awhile ago, all the feathers on his head were white; I couldn't get my camera in time. Is this a different finch or just a fluke?

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Comments (7)

rebeccah_2009
16 years ago
Interesting wish someone would answer this
jannd
16 years ago
People have reported albino variants of some birds (most recently juncos) but I've never seen one. It's possible this is what you saw, but I'm guessing. Perhaps it will return when you've got your camera? I'd like to know the answer as well, since I've never seen this. Lucky you!

Jann
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My gold finches mobbed the feeder 2 weeks ago and then all the snow melteda nd the small birds disappeared. I did note that a neighbor of mine who rarely fed birds put out feed during the Thanksgiving holiday and had several birds. Three days ago, all my birds disappeared which gave me concern for fear that something drastic happened to them. This afternoon, the weather was changing to colder and the small birds began to come back. About the sparrow: Approximately 10 years ago, a virus swept through the English sparrow population and nearly wiped them out in a region from the Mississippi River eastward and they have not recovered. They were the most populous bunch and a nuisance, but no more, Since that time, I have seen only one English Sparrow. Sometimes, when my birds suddenly leave during a popular feeding time, I have spied a hawk sitting high in a tree surveying the scene - this pretty much explains that absence. I do get concerned when my birds disappear for a day or more thinking they might have gotten into some bad feed or rat poison. I am convinced that something has happened in the environment because my bird visitors have fallen to half of what it was a week ago. Fifteen years ago, I did could spy on occasion gross beaks; Also red polls would frequent our feeder during the depth of cold waves. Gross beaks are grazers. They do not hang around one location. In winter, they flock together and will stop for a few minutes to do easy pickings and then move on. They rarely come back to the same place on the same day. Both gross beaks and red polls have disappeared. I have seen none for the past 5 years.
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Mar0908
12 years ago
We have been seeing a white-headed bird at our feeder the past few days - it comes and goes with a group of finches so I am pretty sure it is a purple finch (or house finch). It is pretty striking - just its head is white and the rest of its body has the markings and coloration of a finch with no purple to it.
I will try to get a picture - but they are fast!
Marlene
catherinet
12 years ago
Wow.........I'll have to be on the look-out for one of those. It must have been a "What the heck is that?" moment!
Pyewacket
12 years ago
I wonder if it might be an escaped White-headed Nun finch? Was the head pure white or was it mottled? What were the body markings like?

If there is mottling or a piebald/pied effect it might be partially leucistic.

This is a link to a picture of what I think is probably a partially leucistic house finch - see the mottling and some traces of the normal red coloring

http://www.pbase.com/image/109596442

The nun finch (white-headed munia) is a caged bird. Escaped birds apparently easily hybridize with other finches. There are many subspecies of nun finches - they range from white heads just from the neck up to well down onto the shoulders, from a reddish brown body color with the tail the same color to a deeper red, or a more grayish brown body and tail. It would be hard to guestimate what a hybrid might look like. I don't know how well an escaped White Headed Munia (nun) finch would overwinter, but a hybrid would probably handle that better.

If you can get a picture - several actually - that would answer a lot of questions. An escaped or hybrid version of a white headed nun finch seems unlikely - but so does a leukistic bird, LOL!

This is a white-headed nun finch:

Here is a link that might be useful: Google image search for white headed finches
Mar0908
12 years ago
Thanks for the info - after looking at the pictures at the links you sent, I am pretty sure it was a leucistic house finch. The markings were just like that, except that I didn't see any purple at all. It hasn't been back since I put my camera out near the window, but I will keep watching!
Verde Fisher
10 years ago
I took this today. Does this finch have a white birthmark or something?

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