Did I snap a finch?

QI saw this bird, near Vancouver harbour, British Columbia, Canada on 29 May 2015. Could it be either a Purple or Cassin’s Finch? John Smith, Loughborough

AAs far as we can see from your photograph, John, this is not a finch at all, though you may be forgiven for thinking it was one, with that rather finch-shaped triangular bill. Instead it appears to be a female Red-winged Blackbird, a bird which despite its name is not related to our thrushes, but rather is in a family called the icterids. Icterids are an American family which includes the New World orioles, grackles, caciques, cowbirds, oropendolas, meadowlarks, Bobolink and New World blackbirds. The Red-winged Blackbird is one of the commonest and most widely distributed species and the females are particularly heavily streaked, like your bird.