Bird Patch - Purple Finch (#69 of collection)

Purple Finch (#69)

Small and chunky with big seed-cracking bills, Purple Finches are irregular winter visitors to bird feeders in the U.S. They breed across much of Canada and in northern forests in the U.S., but every few years many head south in the fall to search for food in response to shortages of cone crops. It is the adult male that gives the Purple Finch its common name, though it is really a raspberry red. The females and immatures are a streaky brown.