Purple Finch (Carpodacus purpureus), Beeline Highway--Sunflower, Maricopa County

This Purple Finch was found and photographed by Sean Fitzgerald on 21 January 2016

One of seven present.

Purple Finch is a casual transient and winter visitor with only five records since 2003, when it was reinstated on the review list. This year and last year were flight years for Purple Finch in the California deserts and there are 18 prior pending reports, 12 since November 2015.

This finch is readily told from a House Finch by the strong face pattern. The best characters to separate this bird from a female Cassin's Finch are the overall greenish color and blurry breast streaking. The culmen is not visible in this photo, but also note the darker area around the eye with no visible eye-ring.

21 January 2016, photo by Sean Fitzgerald

All photos are copyrighted© by photographer