[EBB Sightings] tips on distinguishing various red-top finches

These are helpful tips I mentioned (below my palaver). At this point, I 
think I do have a purple finch visitor to the feeder but he doesn't 
looks "just like in the guide" as he has less red down his back and 
sides but does have the whiter belly and frankly prettier, solidly red 
head. The one bird I probably mistook for a Cassin's hasn't been back. 
he was actually smaller and sleeker than the regular houses, not 
chunkier, adding further doubt but he DEFINITELY had sharper colors. 
Problem here is that I believe I have many in various stages of 
development and I am not a skilled birder. Anyone with multiple finches 
at their feeder probably has the same situation. Its a war out there, 
too!

For some reason today, the titmouses have gone to war with finches and 
are actually chasing them away instead of the other way 
around.Chickadees don't come anymore but I stopped mixing in nijer seed 
so maybe, or just intimidated by finches??  On walk, the Canadian geese 
were not yielding ground either but hissing at me with dinosaur-like 
open mouths.

On Monday walk through closed golf course today: second pair of 
presumably breeding Western bluebirds spotted. Today's pair was staying 
very close to the resident-made nesting box and I think they may use it 
(very exciting!). This box has much less traffic than the others on the 
course. For those with access to Rossmoor, it's the first box above the 
Buckeye Tennis Courts. First pair, spotted last Thursday along Rossmoor 
Parkway near top of main part of Dollar course, a beautiful male was 
swooping down in half arcs over long grass on embankment (catchin' 
bugs, right?). Female was sitting on fibreglass course markers, 
occassionally flying from pole to pole. The male was stunningly blue, 
especially because he was in the sun. FWIW, he was alighting in a pine 
tree. There are boxes there too, but busier traffic and golfers.

FINCH TIPS:
from Bob :
"More red on the back" sounds like Purple Finch which would be much more
likely than Cassin's.  Cassin's Finch sometimes shows up in the bay area
when there is an invasion of mountain birds to the lowlands but it is
generally quite rare. "

from Rusty:
"Cassin's is also a _much_ chunkier bird than House. More stout, more 
powerfully built.  Invariably the bright pure red on the top of the 
head ends quite abuptly at the back of the head.  It's a sharp cutoff.  
The red of our Purple Finch (the California race) generally has a grape 
juice stain purply red color (though that varies). The Cassin's is pure 
red. At least to my eyes."

from Kay:
" Cassin's Finch is extremely rare in the extended Bay Area.  Every 
several years, a few are found at feeders - presumably due to failure 
of the cone crop in  mountain habitats. I have had one or two at my 
feeder in  Berkeley twice  over the last  dozen years.  The thing that 
strikes me about the male is that there is a significantly redder patch 
of feathers on the top of the head -- all other red on the head may be 
relatively pale.  Also the Cassin's I've seen (both male and female) 
looked a bit like they'd had a punk haircut. "