March 22, 2009 - Always a welcome sight at the end of winter and before the first crocus, the purple finches came in a small group to brighten the backyard.  They look even cuter when puffed up slightly to maintain a comfortable body temperature.

Looking over last year's photos, I noticed that we have pictures of these birds in every month but September and December. Because the purple finch doesn't stay long on each visit, it was surprising to find the timing was spread throughout the year. I'm betting they found us in the two off months, as well, while we were distracted with who knows what. We'll be keeping a better watch this year.  Even though they really are officially found year round in our area, we are still surprised and excited when they come to our feeders.

January 28 - Today, according to the weather reports, we are having the worst snow storm of this winter. Among all the frantic (goldfinches) and bickering (pine siskins) we saw a pretty and welcome site.  There is nothing like a bright red bird to brighten an otherwise very white and cold day.  We  always love to see our three cardinal pairs, but they congregate at the safflower ground feeder. We placed  this  near some distant bushes for their safety, not for the convenience of picture taking.  What joy to see a beautiful  purple finch who sat right outside the window and was ready for his close-up!

After waiting patiently on snag branches, he landed  on and fed from several nearby sunflower seed feeders.  It was refreshing to see he could accomplish this without the usual winter bird scuffle.  He even seemed to nod at the couple of house finches he probably knew from his summer stay in our backyard.

Everyone agrees the purple finch is really not purple.  Early observers said this bird seems to have been dipped in raspberry juice.  The Latin name ending in purpureus actually means crimson.  Our misguided translation is probably the cause of naming this bird the purple finch.

He is certainly a beautiful bird and a bright spot in any season's  landscape. He was a visitor in our yard from the second week of April until July 4th.

We were fortunate to be able to watch babies brought to our feeders. It was heart-warming to see mom and dad lovingly care for these balls of fluff. The number of purple finches are believed to be declining in eastern US. We have hope of return visits since, one nest can be used for many generations.

On October 5th we saw a female purple finch. October 10th brought home the male.

Pretty Carpodacus purpureus
Has us baffled and quite, quite curious.

"I do not care if you are fooled," he quipped.
"I am not purple, but raspberry dipped."

Ornithologists and Latin scholars
Just picked the false name with no real bothers.

"Our odd purple name will do in a pinch,
But we prefer to be called crimson finch."

--  CF