Haemorhous purpureus
male
The Purple Finch is a small, plump-bodied songbird with a conical bill and proportionately large head. The sexes are dissimilar. Adult males are reddish pink on the head and breast, grading to streaked reddish brown on the back. The subtly darker wings have two rather indistinct pinkish-buff wingbars and buff margins to the flight feathers. The flanks are flushed pink and streaked. The belly and undertail are white in birds from the east of the range but gray in western birds. Adult females and juveniles have streaked gray-brown upperparts, and pale underparts that are dark-streaked except on the undertail. The brown head has a pale supercilium, submustachial stripe, and throat; the subtly darker ear coverts and malar stripe are more pronounced in eastern birds than in western ones.
The Purple Finch is a breeding visitor to the north of its range, mainly from May to August; in winter these birds spread across much of eastern U.S.A. In the west and northeast of its range it is present year-round.
female
FACT FILE
LENGTH 6 in (15 cm)
FOOD Invertebrates, seeds, and berries
HABITAT Conifer and mixed forests
STATUS Widespread and common summer breeder, winter visitor, and resident
VOICE Song is a series of warbling phrases. Call is a sharp pik
