Purple Finches

Purple Finch

This time of year, the reddish brown finches at your bird feeder can get a little confusing. The year-round House Finches are very common visitors to our bird feeders. They have a pleasant song and are relatively tame, often nesting in hanging flower baskets. Starting in October, there is another similar-looking finch, the Purple Finch, that starts arriving from Canada to spend parts of the winter in the United States. It is easy to confuse this species with the House Finch so here are some pointers on how to tell the two apart.

The Purple Finch has a red/purple coloring with a bolder brown eye stripe.

Purple Finches will often raise the red crown on their head which is a trademark that differentiates it from the House Finch.

Close-up of raised crown feathers

In color, the House Finch has a more reddish orange tone and less bold streaks on the head and body than the Purple.

Male purple finch on the upper left perch and a pair of house finches on the seed tray. Note the raised crown on the purple finch.

Purple Finch on a frosty morning

The native Purple Finches have had to compete with the introduction of House Finches which arrived in Minnesota in 1980. According to the All About Birds website:

The House Finch was originally a bird of the western United States and Mexico. In 1940 a small number of finches were turned loose on Long Island, New York, after failed attempts to sell them as cage birds (“Hollywood finches”). They quickly started breeding and spread across almost all of the eastern United States and southern Canada within the next 50 years.

So when the Purple Finches arrive at our feeders in the fall, it is always a treat to add them to the mix of finches and hopefully they visit enough to brighten up the winter days with their raspberry tints.