andrew2285's Identifications

MALE House Finch with a weird-looking red growth on its bill.

Link to FEMALE House Finch for comparison: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/237953672

House Finch (Haemorhous mexicanus) is a moderate-sized perching bird in the Finches, Euphonias, and Allies (Fringillidae) family that is 15 cm (5-6 inches) long. Adults have a long, square-tipped brown tail and are a brown or dull-brown color across the back with some shading into deep gray on the wing feathers. Breast and belly feathers are streaked. Adult male heads, necks and shoulders are reddish (sometimes orange-red and occasionally even yellow). This color sometimes extends to the belly and down the back, between the wings. Male coloration varies in intensity with the seasons and is derived from the berries and fruits in its diet. It forages on the ground, while perching in weeds, or up in trees and shrubs. Except when nesting, it usually forages in flocks. They will come to feeders for seeds, especially sunflower seeds, and to hummingbird feeders for sugar-water. There are several subspecies.
Diet is mostly seeds, buds, berries. Almost all of diet is vegetable matter. Feeds mainly on weed seeds. Other important items include buds and flower parts in spring, berries and small fruits in late summer and fall. Also eats a few insects, mostly small ones such as aphids.
Young are fed on regurgitated seeds. House Finches feed their nestlings exclusively plant foods, a fairly rare occurrence in the bird world. Many birds that are vegetarians as adults still find animal foods to keep their fast-growing young supplied with protein.

Irene's Finches, Euphonias, and Allies (Fringillidae) family observations on INaturalist: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=any&taxon_id=9079&user_id=aparrot1&verifiable=any

Ebird with species description, range map and sound recordings:: https://ebird.org/species/houfin/

Audubon Guide to North American Birds https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/house-finch

National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America, ed. Jon L. Dunn, 7th ed., 2017, pp.438-439.

National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of Western North America, ed. Jon L. Dunn, 2008, pp, 402-403.

Monterey Birds, Don Roberson, 2nd ed. 2002, sponsored by Monterey Peninsula Audubon Society, p.463

Xeno-canto: Bird songs, sound recordings, bird range and migration map: https://xeno-canto.org/species/Haemorhous-mexicanus

The Cornell Lab (Birds in U.S. and Canada) https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/house_finch

Law's Field Guide to the Sierra Nevada, John Muir Laws, California Academy of Sciences, 2007, p. 270

Compare Finches: https://www.audubon.org/bird-guide?family=6455

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Merlin Bird ID: How to use/get the portable App (Bird ID help for 8,500+ species) https://merlin.allaboutbirds.org/

Found Feathers: INaturalist Project: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/found-feathers
Comprehensive Feather I.D. tools and more: https://foundfeathers.org/resources/
Found Feathers (Worldwide): https://www.fws.gov/lab/featheratlas/idtool.php

Irene's Ebird Profile: https://ebird.org/profile/MTIwNjIzMg and my worldwide bird checklists: https://ebird.org/mychecklists

Irene's Birds (Aves class) observations on INaturalist: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=any&taxon_id=3&user_id=aparrot1&verifiable=any

Irene's (aparrot1) Profile Page on INaturalist listing Nature Resources (includes online references with links) for Plants, Birds, Fungi, Arachnids, Reptiles, Amphibians, Marine Life, Plant Galls, and more: https://www.inaturalist.org/people/3188668

This observation is for the feather, which I will place at the general category for Birds. ...

Found along Savanna Trail, just west of Oak Hill Trail, within Glendalough State Park, NE of Battle Lake, MN.