Kingfisher & Wombat: Ok, Birdsky, I’m stumped. I’m in Finland, and bopping around on the ground were a couple of birds that looked like female European House Sparrows, BUT had dark red-orange beaks. Not like the drab pinkish you get, but distinctly colored. I can’t turn up anything in the bird book.

Ok, Birdsky, I’m stumped. I’m in Finland, and bopping around on the ground were a couple of birds that looked like female European House Sparrows, BUT had dark red-orange beaks. Not like the drab pinkish you get, but distinctly colored. I can’t turn up anything in the bird book.

Any guesses up to “freak sparrows” or “you were holding the binoculars wrong” accepted. Clean gray breast, at least from the sides.

Redpoll maybe? Touch of red on the head?

Could they have eaten something?

I am not a bird watcher, but going through a picture list of birds of Finland, maybe an alpine accentor?

Immature white-crowned sparrow but they've been drinking red Kool aid?

The Freak Sparrow sounds like it could be an actual species

I'm not from Finland and I'm not an expert on sparrows, but I can definitely say that Eastern European female house sparrows can have yellowish/orange bills. Maybe they can look red depending on the light?

It is very likely that it’s a regional variant that is throwing me!

Is it berry season in Finland?

Might just be a young sparrow? Their beaks darken as they grow older.

Ortolan Bunting? The females look very like sparrows apart from the reddish beaks. The males have rather more distinctive yellow throats. They sing 'plink plink' in a soft shy sort of way.

Most Scandinavian countries got their own version of Artportalen. In which people report birds and other animals they see and their location. You can use Finland's version here laji.fi/en It got a fairly advance search function! Here is for example a house sparrow search: laji.fi/en/taxon/MX....

Only thing I can find that remotely fits is common redpol, but they have a pretty noticeable red patch on their forehead

Is it a bunting of some sort?

Could be?

@tinylongwing.bsky.social might be able to help?

Shoot, if only I knew Finnish birds better! I do like the Ortolan Bunting suggestion though, that's definitely a pink beak! They don't really look much like House Sparrow females otherwise in structure though. HOSP females with berry staining is also a realistic suggestion.

I had a feeling it was a little out of your wheelhouse but I figured I'd see what you knew anyway lol

Yeah no worries, I do answer a lot of EU bird questions on reddit when I can, but definitely am still learning birds of that region!

luontoportti.com/en/c/3/birds... I think this lists all/most birds in Finland.. Couldn't find exact match. Ortolan Bunting and Chaffinch might have those colors in beaks? (Not a bird spotter)

Birds - NatureGateluontoportti.com Listen bird sounds and identify species using our tool. Over 200 birds with accurate text and image content - presented in eight languages.

Trumpeter finch?

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