Pyrrhuloxia

This page is for the Pyrrhuloxia (Cardinalis sinuatus). My first photographic evidence occurred on April 18, 2021 at Falcon State Park, Roma, TX. This bird serve as an example for me of making sure you dig deeper in identification if something seems off a bit. When I first organized my photographs from the day, I misidentified this bird as a Northern Cardinal. I just thought it was one that was in non-typical plumage or was sickly. Later I saw pictures of a Pyrrhuloxia and I remembered seeing one, but could not remember when or where. Today (2/5/2022) I was reviewing old photographs and came across this picture and said “There it is!” It was an easy enough mistake to make as they are similar looking and both belong to the same Genus (Cardinalis). This photo shoot was before I got the Cornell Merlin App. Now on almost every photo I use the photo identification feature to confirm or determine the species. There have been a few times I have been off, most frequently on identifying the female of the species. Merlin is not perfect and misses sometimes, but it is most often right-on with its identification.