Friday, March 19, 2010

Purple Finch

The Purple Finch is one of my occasional backyard birds. They are suppose to be a winter bird for me, even though it seems I see them other times too. It is a treat to see these colorful birds. My field guide says they are wine and rose in color, I like to call it raspberry.  The female is a dull brown with streaked whitish underparts. They feed mostly on seeds and fruits. They seem to favor the Black oil Sunflower seeds.


This shot shows the difference in size compared to the smaller American Goldfinch.



Male and female





Thanks for stopping by my blog and to see more wonderful birds and critters
 please visit the Friday Ark

AND

You can see more cute critters over at Misty Dawn's Camera Critters thanks Misty dawn for hosting this fun critter meme.



38 comments:

  1. It is one day until spring. Wow! So great!!

    And am great to see all these lovely little critters.

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  2. Pretty ~ I have the house finch but no purple finch ~ but I call him a purple finch :)

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  3. Great pictures.The last one is particularly lovey.
    Blessings,Ruth

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  4. I love the comparison of the purple finch and goldfinch! I can't believe how much smaller the goldfinch is.

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  5. That's a handy looking feeder Eileeen and a good comparison of male and female purple finch.

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  6. Pretty birds! We get house finches but not purple finches. Great photos.

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  7. What an amazing colour. You have so many pretty birds in your yard.

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  8. What pretty birds they are. I agree that the color looks more like raspberry.

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  9. Love birdwatching, these are great photos. Its cool that they landed together & you can compare the contrast of colors. Happy spring!

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  10. What a beautiful colour! I've never seen Purple Finch before! Thank you for sharing these great shots! Have a nice weekend! :-)

    http://www.la-douceur-de-vivre.com

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  11. We had a pair of Purple Finch stop by our feeder one day last week. They were only passing through. Great shots. Love the comparison picture. ~karen

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  12. Great purply photos..I especially like the size comparison!

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  13. I had no idea that the Golden Finches were so much smaller than the Purple Finches. They both have been here this week, but not together like this for comparison~

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  14. Wonderful shots! We have the smaller, redder house finches here.

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  15. Lovely birds!

    Take a peek at the critter on my page.

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  16. Eileen thank you for identifying the Purple Finch for me!!I knew it was a male but I assumed it was the female of the Yellow American Finch!
    You've cleared that up for me...Yeah I had a Purple Finch land at my feeder!!!! We put out the finch feeder for the American yellow! I patiently wait.
    Happy Spring!!

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  17. Eileen: Thanks for letting me see the Purple Finch, they are oh so colorful compared to the House Finch.

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  18. Nice captures, Eileen. Those birds are beautiful

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  19. The purple finch is so pretty! How fun to have the gold and purple together! Very nice.

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  20. I need to attract more finches. Nice pics.

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  21. Wow..beautiful birds. Their color is amazing!

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  22. Nice! i'm glad the purple finch came to visit you! There was one a few years ago that would sit in my window sill at home - it's one of those windows you push out. he would come and stare into my room , at the screen. I loved that he would hang out there for hours :) Love the pictures, reminds me of that little guy!

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  23. Very lovely birds. The color contrast in them is outstanding.

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  24. How strange, I have never seen a purple finch !

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  25. They are such lovely birds, Eileen. I still get them confused with the house finch...although I am learning the difference.

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  26. I saw my first Purple Finch, Eileen, when we were in Arkansas. I haven't seen them here. We have SOME House Finches--but mostly Goldfinches.

    I think the female Purple Finch looks like a TINY female Red-breasted Grosbeak... Have you seen them before???? They visit us in spring and fall --on their way north for the summer and south for the winter.

    Have a great Sunday.
    Hugs,
    Betsy

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  27. I love seeing all the lovely birds that visit you ... so different from the birds I see where I live! That first shot is a great comparison.
    Hugs and blessings,
    Small Reflections

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  28. Like you I only occasionally spot a purple finch but house finches are around all of the time. Nice post & I enjoyed the post on the great falls of the Potomac, perhaps a place I should visit.

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  29. They are huge and soooo beautiful!
    Love that red colour :D

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  30. Wow..these are so pretty!!
    About twelve years ago a lady I know gave me what she called a strawberry finch. The mate died so she included a white one. The strawberry colored finch had the most beautiful song I'd ever heard. Later he died (I couldn't pick another one up like it here either). Well I kept looking them up on the internet..even youtube to see about the sound..no luck to what was referred to as the "strawberry" with that sound. I never thought to look up purple. Does this one have an unusual song? Looks so similar.
    Beautiful Eileen!!
    Regina-

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  31. I like how the photos show the difference between the species. An excellent camera critters post.

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  32. Nice shots of the Purple Finches Eileen! I especially like the photo of the male and female side by side for comparison. I get a lot of House Finches but occasionally there will be Purple Finches mixed in.

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  33. It is still winter over here!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  34. They are truly colorful! I especially like the last photo.

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  35. They are truly beautiful. You captured them well. The Pine Grosbeaks in our north woods have a slightly darker but similar color.

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  36. Thanks for posting the virtual birding tour of Costa Rica, as well as the references to related sites. It's wonderful this country has been so successful with "ecotourism" & protecting its native species/habitat.

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