Female scarlet tanager, or goldfinch (pics) (1 Viewer)

[icheckemout]

Hi, I keep going back and forth on which this bird is, female scarlet tanager or goldfinch...we have both around the yard, although the golfinch sightings are more common (upstate NY). These pictures are both of the same bird. I have been trying to identify which this is, looking at the wing feathers and shape of the beak.

Any ideas?

 

[dredc]

American goldfinch

 

[Rapala]

+1 for American Goldfinch. Scarlet Tanager would be a very rare find for your location at this time of the year.

 

[icheckemout]

Thanks for the help.

 

[Kratter]

Yes, an American Goldfinch. If the photos were taken recently (it does look like snow in the background), then Scarlet Tanager is not really a possibility. The entire breeding population (in eastern North America) migrates to humid forests in the Andes of South America for the boreal winter., with very few elsewhere. It would be very unusual to see a Scarlet Tanager anywhere near snow anytime of the year.

 

[Jeff Hopkins]

Not to mention the fact that scarlet tanager wouldn't have bright white wing bars and edges.