This confusion was more common when house finches were new to the East, but now that they are everywhere (and a pest as far as many people are concerned) the mistake is rarer. It has a chestnut brown head and nape (rather than grey), and ... and young birds have no red breast and are spotted with golden brown. Location Looking more closely, the lores and crown are black, the chin and forehead are red and the cheeks are white. These birds are permanent residents, sometimes moving south in winter. Female has a brown head and black and white barred back and wings, yellow belly. That’s partly due to the cheerful red head and breast of males, and to the bird’s long, twittering song, which can now be heard in most of the neighborhoods of the continent. Redpolls are small, pale, red-capped, and have a black chin that contrasts against pale underparts. This small finch is strikingly colourful with its mixture of red, white and black on the head, golden brown body and bright yellow wing bars. They often travel with small mixed flocks in winter. The House Finch is a recent introduction from western into eastern North America (and Hawaii), but it has received a warmer reception than other arrivals like the European Starling and House Sparrow. The only birds you are likely to confuse with redpolls are house finches. Learn to identify songbirds by type and see pictures of common backyard birds. Hi Auditman, The "crown" on a ruby-crowned kinglet _is_ a red stripe on top of the head. Williamson’s: Male is mostly black with large white wing patch, two white stripes on the face, red throat, yellow belly. Alternates quick airfoil hammers along with a soar. Red-breasted: Mostly red head and breast, bold white slash on the shoulder. Previous posts have indicated that the black bar may be very thin or may only be visible from directly behind the nape, but, on this bird… Most of the time, it's barely even visible. Rear is actually black- and also blue-gray grouped with black pointer. They forage on the trunk and large branches of trees, and are well-known for descending head first, a behavior unique to the white-breasted nuthatch. Skyrockets on thermals and also updrafts. Gray head, dark moustache red stripe. The treecreeper is small, very active, bird … Mostly black back with limited white mottling. Eurasian Kestrel: Small falcon, saw rufous upperparts, brown-streaked addict underparts. Their principal diet consists of insects and a few varieties of seeds. Live on huge insects, small mice and also birds. Maybe you've seen photos where the bird is raising those feathers, in which case you see a bright red mitre-shaped crest, like a cardinal's. You might be surprised to discover how some of the birds you see in your garden and yard are related. The bird had a very small amount of black mixed into the top middle of the red on the nape, but there was not a complete black bar dividing the red. They are all of the order Passeriformes, but then split into many different families.