The Purple Finch (Haemorhous purpureus) is listed in the Birds of New Brunswick: An Annotated List as a common summer resident and migrant and rare-to-fairly common in winter. This winter must have been one of those 'fairly common in winter' winters. We have had Purple Finches in the Fredericton area and also in other parts of the province for most of the winter; more numbers as the winter progressed. They have been singing their beautiful warbling song in my area for 10 days or so now.
The Purple Finch is a beautiful finch, the reddish purple of the male brightening up the stark trees of winter. It is a friendly species which spends considerable time around cities and towns. It readily comes to feeders so livens up our yards and can give us something to look forward to on bleak winter days.
The range of the Purple Finch covers a large part of North America. It is listed as a permanent resident of the Maritime Provinces, southern Quebec and southern Ontario, New England and the areas just south of the Great Lakes; also in the extreme western parts of the US. It is a summer resident in the rest of Canada south of a line from southern Yukon to Newfoundland. It is a winter resident in the eastern half of the US (and in the areas of Canada where it is a permanent resident). This species normally inhabits coniferous forests and mixed woods in the East. In the West it prefers mountain coniferous forests and oak canyons. This species can be erratic and is often found in our province in the upper St. John River valley and the northwest. It is more likely to be present in winter when there is a good cone crop in our forests. It regularly visits bird feeders where it readily eats peanuts, millet, suet, fruit, sunflower seeds and mixed seed. In the wild it eats seeds, blossoms, buds, and fruits taken mainly from the outer edges of trees but sometimes from the ground.
The male Purple Finch is listed as both dark red and purple in colour. It depends on the light but I have seem many males that show a beautiful magenta colour. The male's rosy colour is brightest on the head and rump. The back is brownish with pink stripes. The bright rosy head shows a distinct paler pink eyebrow and a darker cheek patch. There are two indistinct wing bars and the lower belly is whitish with varying indistinct streaking. The undertail coverts are white. The bill is large, conical and a light gray colour. See the photos above.
The female Purple Finch does not sport the beautiful red/purple colour of the male. She is a subdued brown, streaky finch. Her back and head are boldly streaked with a whitish eyebrow and submoustachial stripe that contrasts well with the dark brown cheek and malar stripe (below the cheek). Her underparts are white with heavy dark brown streaking that does not extend to the white undertail coverts. See photo above.
The Purple Finch nests in conifers where it makes a cup nest of grasses and twigs, lined with fur. Three to five light green eggs with black or brown blotches are laid. The female incubates the eggs for 13 days.
In our area the only species the Purple Finch has to be differentiated from is the House Finch. The Purple Finch is stockier than the House Finch. Its tail is shorter and deeply notched. Its wings are longer and more pointed. The House Finch has less red on the head and has a squared tail-tip. In the west the Purple Finch also needs to be differentiated from the Cassin's Finch. There are presently two named subspecies of the Purple Finch.
The Purple Finch belongs to the Fringillidae family. It was originally named in 1789 by Johann Friedrich Gmelin. Purple Finches measure 12-16 cm long and weigh 18-32 g. The Purple Finch is the state bird of New Hampshire. In 1763 a female Purple Finch in Mexico was described by Richard Brookes who called it the Chia Seed Bird ('Chiantotot'). The Purple Finch and its two close relatives (House Finch and Cassin's Finch) were originally classed with the rose finches of Eurasia in the genus Carpodacus. They have since been removed to their own species, Haemorhous, because it was found that they are not closely related to the Eurasian finches.
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