20
Apr

Purple Finches and House Finches

How to tell them apart?  For a long time, this was difficult for me.  At first, I tried to rely on the color of the males – the male Purple Finch is more of a raspberry color and the male House Finch more of an orange-red.  But what I discovered is that in winter when it is possible to see both birds at our feeders, this color difference is too subtle for me.  In winter, the bright orange-red of the spring and summer male House Finch is duller and closer in shade to the raspberry of the Purple Finch.  You may be better at color discernment than I am, but I had to find another way to tell these birds apart.

I now use two physical features to tell these males apart:  brown streaks on the tummy or not, and subtle raspberry crescent behind the eye or not.  And I use binoculars.  I cannot see either of these features very well with just my eyes – especially the raspberry crescent.  First – the breast and tummy area.  The male Purple Finch has a shading of raspberry on the breast, and it most often extends down into the tummy before it fades to a more pale/white.  There may be some blurry brown streaks at the edges of the tummy area, but if they are there, they will be quite faint.  Most times I do not see streaking at all.  If you can get a close look, there is a faint mottling on the breast but most times, especially without binoculars, the breast will appear more clear/unmarked.  In contrast, the male House Finch has a shading of orange-red on its breast – and in the fall and winter, this can be more dull.  Generally, this color does not extend as far into the tummy as the raspberry of the male Purple Finch.  You should see some brown streaks on the House Finch’s pale tummy – most particularly at the edges where they will be more obvious.  These streaks may be a bit blurry, but you can distinguish them.

Second is the female Purple Finch (more below) has a fairly obvious white/pale beige crescent behind her eye that can be a bit tweedy.  The male has this same crescent but his is raspberry and most often, hard to see.  But it is there and if you use binoculars, you should be able to see it.  This crescent and its intensity does vary from male to male and from female to female.

Male Purple Finches (Both photos by our good friend Jim Oettel).  Notice the lack of brown streaking on the tummy.  The male House Finch has obvious brown streaking.  The crescent above the eye on this male is almost non-existent.  This greatly varies from male to male – some are just like this male and on others, the crescent is still raspberry, but much more obvious.  It is always fairly obvious on the female.

 

The raspberry crescent on this male is much more pronounced. The intensity of the crescent varies from male to male.  Photo by Taylor Finklea on Unsplash.
Male House Finch. in winter. Notice the orange-red is mainly on the breast and only extends slightly into the tummy area. The raspberry of the male Purple Finch often extends farther into the tummy. And notice the brown streaking on  the tummy – especially the edges. If the male Purple Finch has streaking on his tummy – and most do not – it will only be on the very edges and will be faint and blurry – quite hard to see. (Photo by Paul Crook on Unsplash.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The female Purple Finch has a crescent just above and behind each eye.  But instead of it being raspberry and hard to see as it is on the male, it is white/light beige and can be a bit tweedy.  It is obvious – especially through binoculars.  The female House Finch does not have this crescent.  Her face and head are a bland, slightly tweedy brown.  No distinguishing features.

A female Purple Finch.  You can see her white/light beige crescent behind her eye is subtle, but you can see it.  Notice it is a bit tweedy.  Photo by Jim Oettel.  
Here are 2 female Purple Finches at our feeder. Notice their crescents are much more obvious – white with no brown tweeding. The crescents vary from female to female. Photo by Linda Hendricks Spence.
Female House Finch. No crescent behind the eye. Her head is a uniform tweedy brown. Photo by Cecile Mousist on Unsplash.
Female House Finch. Photo by Bill Stephan on Unsplash.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you are lucky enough to have males and females of both species at your feeders, watch their behavior.  I think the females are easier to tell apart and if you observe these birds at your feeders for some minutes, the males that the females stay closest to and interact the most with are their same species males – their mates.