Purple Finch

The purple finch has been an elusive find. I have seen lots of very red house finches that I've wondered might be purple finches, to no avail. How ironic that when I finally see one, it is a female with no red (or purple) on it and an identification that totally shocks me. On November 1, 2025 I was in the San Gabriel Mountains above Los Angeles near the Chilao Visitors Center, a spot with some tap water that attracts birds. I suspected I might be seeing a bird I'd not seen before. It had a thick bill, lots of yellow and brown. I submitted it to iNaturalist and it suggested a purple finch. I've had one identifier confirm it, david99, the sixth highest identifier of purple finches with 547 identifications. 

An illustration of a female from Birds of the World.

An illustration of a male from Birds of the World. 

Males have a red head, breast, back and rump. Females have light brown upperparts and white underparts with dark brown streaks throughout and a white line above the eye. There are two subspecies. Ssp. californicus, found in southwest Canada and the western U.S., which I saw, has darker plumage, a longer tail and longer bill than the nominate ssp. and females are more greenish, which I described as yellow above. It is found in coniferus and mixed forest, including wooded areas along the U.S. Pacific coast. 

Range map from Birds of the World.