It must be the unexpected cool weather, but my feeder is the most popular bird spot in the neighborhood. It started off with a family of red crossbills (a mom and two juveniles), then a finch fight among purple, house, and goldfinches; then this strange bird showed up. I’ve seen it before, but I can’t ID it. It looks like a female house finch on steroids. It has the same coloring, but it about 40% larger. It’s about the size of a grosbeak; about 7 inches. At first I thought it was an American pipit, but the beak is wrong and the legs are too short. Take a look at the photos and comment if you can ID this bird.
Later I noticed a family of California quails on the lawn under my patio.
I’ve saved the best for last; a pair of pileated woodpeckers were feeding on my suet cake!
It’s only 2:00, so who knows what else will show up?