Seeing Purple Finches here in central North Carolina has been a joy this winter.
If you’ve never seen one before, it’s understandable to confuse them with the similar looking House Finch. Once you’ve viewed them side by side, there is no mistaking these beauties.
Purple Finches are larger birds with an overall more vibrant purple color that covers nearly their entire bodies.
Recently I had an opportunity to observe a small flock of Purple Finches as they devoured the seed in my feeders.
As seen in the first 3 photos, the males are dressed in a maroon-ish purple color.
Female Purple Finches (photos 4 through 6) are covered in a lovey combination of buff brown and tan patterned plumage.
A wintertime resident of North Carolina, their numbers seem to be declining over the past few decades.
That being said, 2020 & 2021 have been proving to be interesting years for viewing several species of Finches. Quite a few North Carolina birders have noticed unusually large numbers of these gorgeous birds moving into their areas.
These mass movements, called “irruptions,” are different from regular migrations and are likely causes by a poor crop of conifer seeds, an important food source for the finches, up north.
Since their food supply has been cut back in the northern regions of the United States, large flocks of Purple Finches are popping up all over the east coast.
Normally Purple Finches are birds of the deep coniferous & wet hardwood forest but in the winter they will venture out into suburban backyards and parks in search of an easy meal.
If you’re interested in attracting these feathered gems to your own yard, fill your feeders with thistle & sunflower seeds. They seem to prefer feeding from a platform style feeder vs. a cylinder too.
They will stick around the Tarheel state through early April so keep an eye out for them over the next few months!
Photos by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc on the fabulous full frame @canonusa
#5Ds
PS. Shout out to Mike at Critter Cove NC @critter.cove.nc for these feeders and that custom seed blend. Freak’n awesome!