[EBB Sightings] possible Cassin's Finch

I'm putting this out with some trepidation, but
yesterday got some pretty good looks at what may be a
male Cassin's Finch at my feeder.  We have both House
and Purple finches (male and female) as well.  I don't
have much experience with Cassin's- seen them only
once in New Mexico, and I know that Cassin's are
pretty rare here so I won't be offended if you folks
tell me I'm off my rocker and that this is in the
range of variability of Purple Finch.  I will try to
get some pics if possible, although the distance is
kind of awkward (too close for digiscoping, to far for
my camera's lens).

Anyway, here are the field marks I picked up:
*Crown bright red, 'plush' or 'punkish', sharply
contrasting with brown nape.
*noticeable white eye-ring
*bill long and sturdy looking- unfortunately, I never
got an impression of the culmen being either straight
or uniformly curved.
*light-pink superciliary streak behind the eye
*brown cheek and robust brown malar stripe
*upper breast with rose-colored wash, mixed with brown
wash toward belly- belly was white

After thumbing through my guides, the best match is
the Cassin's illustration in the old Peterson's guide
for western birds.

Unfortunately the feeders are not visible from the
road, and at this point I can not invite people in. 
However, the bird seems to stage down to the feeders
from the redwood in the back corner of our lot, or
from the tall pine behind our lot (on Elm Ave), and it
is likely visiting other feeders in the neighborhood. 
We are at the corner of Taft Ave and Kensington Ave
(near the north end of Arlington Avenue, Contra Costa
Co, not too far from Wildcat Canyon park).

Good birding

Alan

Alan Krakauer, Ph.D Candidate
Museum of Vertebrate Zoology 
3101 Valley Life Sciences Building
University of California
Berkeley, CA 94720-3160
Office: (510) 642-7888 
fax: (510) 643-8238  
krakauer at berkeley.edu