Purple Finch

Dipped In Raspberry Jam

I took this photo a year ago in spring with my old camera, (hence the graininess) so its not the greatest but it still shows the distinct characteristics of this bird. At the time I was not aware that this was fairly uncommon bird to see until another e-birder showed up at my door asking if he could see it. He had apparently seen it on my ebird yard list and lived close by. He said they were rather scarce now, and he had never seen one. It had been coming to the feeder for a few days with its mate by then so I told him sure he could hang around the yard to see if it showed up, but I don’t think it ever came back. I told him I had a lot of house finches too, and I still sometimes couldn’t tell them apart. He said the male Purple Finch looks like it was “dipped in raspberry jam” with a more purple-pinkish hue, versus the house finch which is more of a rusty red. I thought that was a great description. Unfortunately I haven’t seen one since.
04/09/2019