Many other people are also reporting them across Oklahoma this winter/spring (2009-10). This past winter has been a “boom” year we have seen at least 9 at our yard feeders, a considerable jump over the usual zero. Then we have a year when they are decidedly more common, although seldom would you say abundant. In Oklahoma City we are on the western edge of the winter range of the Purple Finch it shows up here erratically and most years we see very few or none. It lays from 3-6 eggs, usually 4 or 5, and most often nests in coniferous trees, the nest usually being about 15-20 feet high. The Purple Finch nests over much of southern Canada and into the northern U.S., and it is the state bird of New Hampshire. Often helpful too is that both a male and a female Purple Finch are seen together, at least in my experience. Both the male and female Purple Finch have strong brownish-black and white streaking on the body immature males and older females have a faint wash of “raspberry,” but not nearly so much color as an adult male. The female Purple Finch also has its own “character”-a strong white stripe behind the eye that (boldly) says “female Purple Finch,” rather than the nondescript face pattern of the female House Finch. Also, the Cassin’s Finch does not normally range into central Oklahoma (travel to the Black Mesa area in wintertime to have the best chance to see a Cassin’s Finch). The male Purple Finch is most similar in color to the Cassin’s Finch, but Purple Finch males have a more uniform raspberry wash than the Cassin’s Finch. This raspberry color is different from the red of the similar male House Finch-and this difference in color is rather easily distinguished if you get an adequate look with binoculars. To clarify, it is the male Purple Finch that has the beautiful raspberry juice-or wine-color that goes over the head and “drips” downward over much of its body. In its online write-up about the Purple Finch (Carpodacus purpureus), Cornell University states: “The Purple Finch is the bird that Roger Tory Peterson famously described as a ‘sparrow dipped in raspberry juice.’” To me there is always something very satisfying about seeing Purple Finches, and Peterson’s phrase catches much that is appealing about this beautiful bird. By John Shackford Purple Finch (male) © Patricia Velte
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