Re: European Goldfinch

[Tuula M Rose <tuularose at juno dot com>]

Bill,
You ask wheather anyone has an idea of the possible origin of the
European Goldfinch. My guess is that  it is an escapee. Even Sibley says
that there are no established populations  dispite efforts to get one
going.  Every petshop in Utah has them for sale and someone must have let
theirs go free. I once saw a Red Bishop, which also is a popular cage
bird, (on the same Sibley page) flocking with red-winged blackbirds in a
cornfield in Springville. Like you, I had to rub my eyes a few times to
believe what I was seeing. I remember Milton Moody reporting a strange
finch at his feeder. He went to the petstore and saw them for sale at
$19.95.
Nevertheless, it is a spectacular bird, and you are lucky to observe one
in the "wild".

Good birding   ~   Tuula Rose
========================================================================
 Send submissions to . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  birdnet@utahbirds.org
 Send replies to . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  birdnet@utahbirds.org
   or to the original poster indicated in the From: line of the post
 Send (un)subscribe requests to  . . . .  birdnet-request@utahbirds.org
   In message body: type "subscribe" (without quotes) to subscribe
   In message body: type "unsubscribe" (without quotes) to unsubscribe
 Send problem reports to . . . . . . . . .  owner-birdnet@utahbirds.org
 Visit the Utah Birds web site at  . . . . .   http://www.utahbirds.org

------------------------------