Farm Bird #120: Purple Finch

 

Farm Bird #120: Purple Finch

Greene County 

 

East Tennessee

 

After 8 months of dealing with COVID on the frontlines in the emergency department, I finally caught it. I’m on day 3-4, and I’m doing okay.

 

This morning, along with a new snow, my wife and kids started to develop symptoms as well.

But the birds don’t stop just because humans have a pandemic!

 

My 9-year-old daughter, who is definitely not feeling well, still came running into my bedroom this morning with the camera.

 

“I think there’s a Purple Finch on the bird feeder!”

 

Well, none of us have ever seen a Purple Finch before. For me, it’s one of the birds I “should” have seen years ago, but it keeps eluding me.

 

And none of the kids have seen one either, but my 9-year-old daughter spends hours pouring through field guides.

 

I ambled over to the kitchen window, and sure enough, two beautiful Purple Finches on the bird feeder!

The Purple Finch is the 120th different species of bird that we’ve seen on our farm.

 

AllAboutBirds.com states, “The Purple Finch is the bird that Roger Tory Peterson famously described as a “sparrow dipped in raspberry juice.” For many of us, they’re irregular winter visitors to our feeders, although these chunky, big-beaked finches do breed in northern North America and the West Coast. Separating them from House Finches requires a careful look, but the reward is a delicately colored, cleaner version of that red finch.”