Those Danged Zippety Finches

[Hikin_Jim]

So, Zip says he's seen a "lavender" bird locally. For whatever reason, it's been bugging me, so here are my submissions as to the possible ID of these birds:

Purple Martin http://identify.whatbird.com/obj/230/_/ ... artin.aspx
Western Bluebird http://identify.whatbird.com/obj/150/_/ ... ebird.aspx
Blue Grosbeak http://identify.whatbird.com/obj/207/_/ ... sbeak.aspx
Mountain Bluebird http://identify.whatbird.com/obj/581/_/ ... ebird.aspx
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher http://identify.whatbird.com/obj/351/_/ ... tcher.aspx

Zip take a look. If it ain't one of these, I'm buying you a new set of glasses.

[zippetydude]

Jim: Your picture of a mountain bluebird looks decidedly more lavendar than the picture HikeUp had posted originally. Perhaps he nailed it back then, but the picture deceived me. In any case, I'll be camping back up there in the next couple of months, and hope to snap multiple pics. In addition, I hope to interview the birds in question, take a DNA sample, and see if House can shed some light on their purplish condition.

z

[Hikin_Jim]

I was thinking that the Mountain Blue Bird might be a strong candidate. As with most birds, there is a range of variations in color, a range that would include lavender.

[zippetydude]

Sorry, wrong bird. Mine did not have that odd brown appendage on his beak.

But seriously, I think that may be it.

z

[HikeUp]

By George, he's got it. By George, he's got it.

Bah!

[zippetydude]

To be fair, I think that was your identification as well.

This picture sure looks different, though, doesn't it? In fact, if you still have the link, open the picture you had posted. Do you remember there was a lavendar background on a box within the page that held the actual picture of the bird, and I had said that the bird's color resembled the background more than the color of the bird pictured? (That probably makes no sense - I hope you can decipher what I'm trying to say!) Compare that color to the color of this bird, and see if we have a reasonably close match.

I have to say, you guys make this bird watching thing quite engaging. Now I'm on the hunt for new birds that I can't identify. I'm going to post pics of them, however, so you can slam dunk the answer from the outset.

z

[HikeUp]

I do remember the lavender background thingy you're referring to, but too lazy to find the link again.

I must admit that I figured it was a 'blue' mountain bluebird that just appeared lavender due to a variety of possible reasons (color blindness, lighting effects, etc.), but I never imagined there was a lavender morph such as seen in HJ's picture above. I've been unable to find any info on morphs or regional variations of this bird, but will keep an eye out for it. Gotta love birding, even if casually doing so on a hike/run.

Just kidding about the color blindness