I received a Field Guide to Birds book for a present and have decided to photograph and try to identify many birds this year. I live in Illinois and think that this is some kind of sparrow . . . any bird lovers out there that can help me out??
It's not a sparrow. I would guess that it is what is called a common redpoll, if it has black below it's beak. My other guess wuld be an immature red cross bill...you can tell if it's beak is crossed...I can't quite tell with this photo. It looks really young, which could also lead to an immature pine grosbeak.
@debrac I think that this bird is a male house finch - which is very similar to a common redpoll . . . I wish I had more shots at different angles to be sure. Thanks for the help - it gave me an idea of where to start to identify this one.
@juletee It could be, I ruled it out because I am not aware of them living in Illinois, but sometimes you will have a wanderer that doesn't normally belong.
