# Identifying a bird **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 3, 2021, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identifying-a-bird/934278 "2021-03-03T20:04:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2021, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identifying-a-bird/934278/1 "2021-03-03T20:04:20Z")
Small thrush-like in Northern Colorado. Gray feathers but red iridescence on its head and chest so that it looks gray from the side and you see the color more the straighter-on you see it. What bird could it be? ---
**Author:** ![themapleleaf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/themapleleaf/32/14349_2.png) [@themapleleaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/themapleleaf)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2021, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identifying-a-bird/934278/2 "2021-03-03T21:29:45Z")
Could it be a [house finch](https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/House_Finch/id)? Or a [juvenile American robin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_robin#/media/File:Merle_d'Am%C3%A9rique,_juv%C3%A9nile_(_Turdus_migratorius).jpg)? ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2021, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identifying-a-bird/934278/3 "2021-03-04T01:07:45Z")
Definitely not a robin. Not the house finch. The bird is solid gray and the red is prismatic - gray from the side and red from the front. Ill try to get a pic. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2021, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identifying-a-bird/934278/4 "2021-03-04T04:28:57Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Gray feathers but red iridescence on its head and chest so that it looks gray from the side and you see the color more the straighter-on you see it. I don’t consider it all that thrush-like but the only non-hummingbird grayish (greenish-grayish-pinkish) bird with that kind of red structural iridescence in the face in NA that is coming to mind is the [Lewis’s Woodpecker](https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Lewiss_Woodpecker/media-browser/37166641). They’re pretty unique as NA woodpeckers go. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2021, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identifying-a-bird/934278/5 "2021-03-04T04:35:57Z")
If only we knew of an actual bird expert to ask… (summoning @Colibri) ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2021, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identifying-a-bird/934278/6 "2021-03-04T05:01:10Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Not the house finch. The bird is solid gray and the red is prismatic - gray from the side and red from the front. Maybe it is. [The bird on the right](https://www.lyricbirdfood.com/birding-hub/behavior/3-things-you-might-not-know-about-the-house-finch/) looks close. The picture you linked to shows the bird from the side and on my bird no red is visible from that angle. ---
**Author:** ![saucywench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85e7bf/32.png) [@saucywench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saucywench)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2021, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identifying-a-bird/934278/7 "2021-03-04T05:02:18Z")
Greater Antillean Bullfinch (“Police Bird”)? > **[GREATER ANTILLEAN BULLFINCH (“POLICE BIRD”)](https://abacobirds.com/2018/09/22/greater-antillean-bullfinch-police-bird/)** > > GREATER ANTILLEAN BULLFINCH: ABACO’S “POLICE BIRD” Following my last gloomy post about the widely-reported die-off of the poor, exhausted migratory great shearwaters, let’s … ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2021, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identifying-a-bird/934278/8 "2021-03-04T05:06:08Z")
I think I confirmed it’s a house finch. [This is it](https://cdn.britannica.com/92/117192-050-E7CE9AFD/House-finch.jpg). Thanks themapleleaf. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2021, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identifying-a-bird/934278/9 "2021-03-04T12:58:06Z")
Sounds likely to me. ---
**Author:** ![themapleleaf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/themapleleaf/32/14349_2.png) [@themapleleaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/themapleleaf)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2021, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identifying-a-bird/934278/10 "2021-03-07T03:28:32Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > I think I confirmed it’s a house finch. [This is it](https://cdn.britannica.com/92/117192-050-E7CE9AFD/House-finch.jpg). Thanks themapleleaf That’s a nice image.