Bird Profile
Purple Finch
Most reported Purple Finches are House Finches. The real thing is a chunky, big-headed, raspberry-washed woodland finch that shows up at feeders some winters and skips others entirely.
The short answer
- The male is washed raspberry over the whole head, breast, back and rump, with no brown cap and no streaked flanks. The color is closer to wine than to fire-engine red.
- The female is the more reliable identification: a bold white eyebrow and a dark cheek patch on a crisply streaked brown and white bird.
- Purple Finches are irruptive. Some winters they flood feeders across the Northeast and Midwest, other winters they stay north with a good conifer and tree seed crop.
- They eat black oil sunflower readily, and in the wild they are heavy consumers of tree buds, seeds and fruit pulp.
- Populations have been slowly declining for decades. Competition with the introduced House Finch is one likely factor among several.
At a glance
- Scientific name
- Haemorhous purpureus
- Length
- 4.7 to 6.3 in (12 to 16 cm)
- Wingspan
- 8.7 to 10.2 in (22 to 26 cm)
- Weight
- 0.6 to 1.1 oz (18 to 32 g)
- Range
- Breeds Canada, Northeast, Upper Midwest, Pacific coast. Winters south, irregularly.
- Favorite foods
- Black oil sunflower, sunflower hearts, nyjer
- Best feeder
- Tube with sturdy perches, hopper, platform
- At feeders
- Mostly November to April, in irruption years
The Purple Finch (Haemorhous purpureus) is a chunky, large-headed finch about 5.5 inches (14 cm) long that breeds in the conifer and mixed woods of Canada, the Northeast, the Upper Midwest, the Appalachians and the Pacific coast, and comes to feeders in the northern and central US mainly from November through April.
The male is washed a raspberry or wine red over the head, breast, back and rump. That word "purple" has misled people for two centuries: there is no purple on the bird.
Most Purple Finch reports are House Finches, and separating the two is the single most useful skill in this profile. The rest covers the irruption cycle that decides whether you get any at all, their bud-and-seed diet, the feeder setup they prefer, nesting in conifers, and the slow population decline that makes them worth paying attention to.
How to identify a Purple Finch#
Male. Raspberry red suffused over the entire head, throat, breast and back, fading to whitish on the belly, with a red rump. There is no brown cap and no brown cheek breaking up the color, and the flanks are clean or lightly washed pink rather than streaked. The back shows a dull reddish-brown mix rather than plain brown.
Female and first-year male. Brown and white, crisply streaked below with dark, sharply defined streaks, and marked with a bold whitish eyebrow above a dark cheek patch and a dark stripe down the side of the throat. Undertail coverts are clean white.
Shape, in all plumages. Big-headed with a peaked crown, thick-necked, short-tailed, with a deeply notched tail and a stout conical bill whose upper edge is straight rather than curved. Purple Finches look front-heavy. House Finches look sleek.
The call is a short dry pik or tick, distinctly unlike the House Finch's soft chirps, and it is often the first sign of one in a winter flock.
Purple Finch vs House Finch#
The same comparison appears on the House Finch profile, and the marks are identical from either direction.
| Feature | Purple Finch | House Finch |
|---|---|---|
| Male color pattern | Raspberry wash over the whole head, breast, back and rump | Red limited to forehead, eyebrow, throat, upper breast and rump |
| Male cap and cheek | Colored like the rest of the head | Plain brown, clearly separate from the red |
| Flanks | Clean or pink-washed, essentially unstreaked | Bold blurry brown streaks |
| Undertail coverts | Clean white | Finely streaked |
| Female face | Bold white eyebrow and dark cheek patch | Plain, no pattern |
| Bill shape | Upper edge straight, bill longer | Upper edge visibly curved |
| Tail | Shorter, deeply notched | Longer, shallow notch |
| Build | Big-headed, peaked crown, chunky, short-tailed | Small-headed, slim, long-tailed |
| Where you see it | Conifer and mixed woods, at feeders mostly in winter | Towns, suburbs, parking lots, year-round |
Learn the females first
Male finch color varies with light, angle and diet, and a washed-out House Finch in low sun fools everyone. Female plumages do not vary that way. A strong white eyebrow with a dark cheek patch means Purple Finch; a plain, featureless brown face means House Finch. Settle the females and the males follow.
In the West, add Cassin's Finch. It is a bird of mountain conifer forest with a bright red peaked crown that contrasts sharply against a browner nape, crisper and finer streaking, and a long straight-sided bill. Purple Finches on the Pacific coast are a duller, browner subspecies with more diffuse streaking, which makes the western identification genuinely harder than the eastern one.
Where and when you will see them#
Purple Finches breed across the boreal and northern mixed forest belt of Canada, New England, New York, the Upper Midwest, the higher Appalachians, and separately along the Pacific slope from British Columbia into California.
In winter, eastern birds move south in variable numbers, sometimes reaching the Gulf Coast and Texas. Western birds move mostly downslope rather than far south.
The key word is variable. Purple Finches are one of the classic irruptive winter finches, along with pine siskins, redpolls and crossbills. Their movements track the seed crop of northern trees: a heavy crop of conifer, birch, ash and maple seed keeps them north, and a failed crop pushes them into feeder country by the thousand.
| Season | What to expect |
|---|---|
| November to March, irruption year | Flocks of 5 to 30 at feeders, sometimes daily |
| November to March, non-irruption year | Few or none south of the breeding range |
| April to May | Passage birds moving north, often singing |
| June to August | Only within the breeding range, and mostly in woods, not yards |
Practical consequence: if none turn up this winter, your feeder is not the problem. Keep sunflower out and check again next year. The wider winter strategy is in winter bird feeding.
What they eat and the feeder setup#
Purple Finches are seed and bud specialists. Away from feeders they eat the seeds of ash, elm, tulip poplar, maple and conifers, along with tree buds, blossoms and the pulp of small fruits such as cherries and juniper berries. They take some insects in summer, especially caterpillars and beetles.
The bud eating is worth knowing because it is conspicuous. In late winter and early spring a flock will work systematically through the buds of an elm, maple or fruit tree, dropping fragments on the ground beneath.
At the feeder they are straightforward. Black oil sunflower is the draw, sunflower hearts equally so, and they will use a nyjer feeder alongside goldfinches.
- A tube feeder with sunflower, ideally with perches long enough for a stocky bird to stand on comfortably.
- A hopper feeder or platform feeder, which suits their heavier build better than a narrow-perch finch tube.
- Black oil sunflower as the default seed, with sunflower hearts as the higher-cost alternative.
- Water, including an open source in freezing weather, which pulls in winter finches as reliably as seed.
They arrive with the flock, not alone
Purple Finches almost always turn up mixed into a flock of House Finches, goldfinches or siskins. Scan a busy feeder for the bird that looks bigger-headed and shorter-tailed than the others, then check the face. The habitat and food setup that draws all of them is in how to attract House and Purple Finches.
Behavior worth knowing#
Song. Males sing a fast, rich, rolling warble, more musical and less scratchy than a House Finch's, and without the harsh rising note at the end. They sing in spring migration, so you may hear it in a yard in April.
Dominance. Purple Finches are generally dominant over House Finches at a feeder in one-to-one encounters, but the House Finch usually wins by weight of numbers and by being there every day of the year.
Feeding style. They mandibulate a seed, working it against a ridge inside the upper bill rather than simply cracking it, and are noticeably slower and more deliberate at a port than a goldfinch.
Displays. Courting males hop, droop their wings, vibrate them and sing, sometimes rising a foot or so into the air in front of the female.
Nesting#
Purple Finches nest in conifers, generally 5 to 30 feet (1.5 to 9 m) up on a horizontal branch away from the trunk, sometimes considerably higher. The nest is a neat open cup of twigs, rootlets and grass, lined with fine grass, moss and animal hair.
Clutches are usually 3 to 5 pale greenish-blue eggs marked with dark spots at the wide end. The female incubates for about 13 days, and the young leave the nest around two weeks after hatching. One or two broods a year is typical.
They rarely nest in yards unless you live inside the breeding range with mature spruce, fir or pine nearby. Planting conifers is the only real way to change that, and it is a slow project: see native plants for birds.
Population and conservation#
Purple Finch numbers have been drifting downward for decades according to long-running continental survey data. The species is still common within its breeding range and is not formally threatened, but the trend is consistent enough to be taken seriously.
The suspected causes are ordinary and cumulative: loss and fragmentation of northern mixed forest, changes in forest composition, and competition with House Finches, which spread across the East from the 1940s onward and now occupy much of the winter feeder habitat Purple Finches once had to themselves.
Purple Finches catch house finch eye disease too
The Mycoplasma gallisepticum conjunctivitis that swept through House Finches also infects Purple Finches, goldfinches and other feeder birds. Swollen, crusted or weeping eyes on any finch means take the feeders down for one to two weeks, disinfect them and clear the seed underneath. Details in house finch eye disease.
Getting Purple Finches in your yard#
- Keep black oil sunflower out all winter, in a feeder with perches a stocky bird can use.
- Add a second station away from the House Finch crowd, since Purple Finches feed more calmly with less competition.
- Provide open water in freezing weather, which is disproportionately effective on winter finches.
- Plant or keep conifers and seed-bearing native trees, particularly ash, maple, birch and spruce.
- Watch every winter, expect them some winters. Irruption is the normal pattern, not a failure of your setup.
Frequently asked questions#
What is the difference between a Purple Finch and a House Finch?
The Purple Finch male is washed raspberry over his whole head, back and breast, with clean unstreaked flanks. The House Finch male has red only on the forehead, eyebrow, throat and upper breast, with a brown cap and cheeks and bold brown streaks down the flanks. The females are easier: Purple Finch females have a strong white eyebrow and a dark cheek patch, while House Finch females have a plain, unmarked face.
Are Purple Finches actually purple?
No. The male is a raspberry or wine red, sometimes described as rose or magenta, spread thinly over a brown bird. Roger Tory Peterson's line about a sparrow dipped in raspberry juice remains the most useful description anyone has written.
Why do Purple Finches only show up some winters?
They are irruptive migrants. When the northern crop of conifer seed, ash, maple and birch seed is good, most birds stay north all winter. When it fails, large numbers push south and appear at feeders well outside their usual winter range. That is why you can have twenty one January and none the next.
What do Purple Finches eat?
Seeds, tree buds, blossoms and fruit, plus some insects in summer. They are notable bud eaters, working over elm, maple, cherry and apple buds in early spring. At feeders they take black oil sunflower and sunflower hearts first, and nyjer readily.
Why is my finch brown but singing like a male?
First-year male Purple Finches look like females for their entire first year and can breed in that plumage. A brown streaked bird singing a rich fast warble from a treetop in spring is very likely a young male, not a female.
Are Purple Finch numbers declining?
Yes, slowly. Long-running continental surveys have shown a decades-long downward trend, especially in the East. Loss and fragmentation of northern mixed woodland is part of it, and competition with the introduced House Finch, which arrived in the East in the 1940s and expanded fast, is a widely suspected contributor.