ML646879605

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***apparent hybrid between House and Purple Finch; a female. My first impression was House Finch, but then I had conflicting impressions that made me think Purple Finch. Eventually I settled on the hybrid option after more observation and sharing the photos around. Intermediate features include: -A pale supercilium and malar with intermixed streaking, also suggesting a cheek patch. This imparted a Purple face pattern but still washed out as in House. -The upper breast was diffusely streaked as in House Finch, but the lower breast and belly were darkly streaked with broad bright white spacing in between, as in Purple Finch -The proportions were compact compared to House; the tail was shorter and the head larger -The bill was slightly longer compared to House, with some curvature in the culmina; not as straight as in Purple but not as curved as in House. The maxilla was short and thicker than what I'd expect in Purple. - The streaking was somewhat broken through the flanks in all views; neither the continuous streaks of House or totally disjointed streaks (almost spotting) of Purple -A darker back compared to nearby House Finches (like Purple Finch), but with broad pale edging to coverts and tertials like House Finch -Lack of any green edging to coverts, remiges, and rectrices, which should be present in Purple Finch House Finches and Purple Finches can have features suggestive of the other species, but for all of them to appear intermediate in a single individual is highly unusual. For example, here's a House Finch with more of a supercilium than most, but other features are consistent with House- https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/646662079. Here's a Purple with heavier, diffuse breast/flank streaking as well as streaking in the supercilium, yet other features match Purple- https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/646592613. I don't think Cassin's Finch or Western Purple Finch are possibilities, although the diminished eyeline and malar are present in some of those females. The diffuse streaking on the upper breast, broad edging to the coverts and tertials, and curved culmina are wrong for those taxa, but support House Finch ancestry. There are four other reports of this taxon as far as I'm aware: one mentioned in Tim Wootton's 1996 Birds of North America account for Purple Finch, and three modern reports from eBird (Ohio, Georgia, Vermont). The Vermont bird was a female. Thanks to Jacob Socolar, Tim Lenz, and Gautam Apte for their eyes and words.