yellow variant of house finch‏ Wynne Lee 2/5/14

Yesterday I saw a male bird that looked JUST like a house finch, and was hanging out with others, but it had kinda golden yellow instead of reddish markings. Thought I was crazy although Sibley shows a 'yellow variant'. But today, in the article below on (bad) effects of urban density on birds, using house finches as an example, the right photo shows exactly what I saw here on Lummi Island yesterday. Never thought of LI as especially 'urban density'. Maybe it's a refugee from B'ham? 

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/02/140205103657.htm