Purple Finch

Description:

Among the small forest birds like chickadees, kinglets, and nuthatches, Purple Finches are large and chunky. Their powerful, conical beaks are larger than any sparrow’s. The tail seems short and is clearly notched at the tip. Male Purple Finches are delicate pink-red on the head and breast, mixing with brown on the back and cloudy white on the belly. Female Purple Finches (like this spotting) have no red. They are coarsely streaked below, with strong facial markings including a whitish eyestripe and a dark line down the side of the throat.

Habitat:

Purple Finches breed mainly in coniferous forests or mixed deciduous and coniferous woods. During winter you can find them in a wider variety of habitats, including shrublands, old fields, forest edges, and backyards. This one was photographed at a feeder in Edgefield County, SC.

Notes:

The Purple Finch is the bird that Roger Tory Peterson famously described as a “sparrow dipped in raspberry juice." Purple Finches readily come to feeders for black oil sunflower seeds. You’ll also see them in forests, where they can be noisy but hard to see as they forage high in trees. In winter they may descend to eat seeds from plants and stalks in weedy fields. Their flight is undulating.