Actually, I have had Purple Finches here at my feeders in Pendleton County
almost every day this winter. Just for what it's worth.
Laura Haggarty
Berry, KY
From: ask-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ask-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf
Of Rose Canon
Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2013 4:35 PM
To: ask
Subject: [ask] finches
All right, it's time for the explanation. We can be certain this bird is an
immature purple finch because it wasn't taken locally. A friend posted it
from a website--Audubon, Cornell, not sure which. He said it was a purple
but he did it to test me, to see whether I would argue that it was a house.
I did say house, but partly because I haven't seen purples around here since
the influx of house finches in the 1970s or 80s. After comparing photos
from Cornell and reading about them, I still thought house until the friend
told me the whole story. After thinking about it, I decided to put it on
here to see what other birders would say.
The only conclusion I can draw is that it's very hard to tell them apart in
the field or in a photo. I checked the CBC report--there were no purples in
the ASK count in 2012 and only 3 in 2011. Thanks to everyone for
responding, especially the photos, and may we all see purples somewhere,
sometime.
Rose
Rose Canon
