The purple finch (Haemorhous purpureus ) is a bird in the finch family, Fringillidae.
The Purple finch is a small bird found in North America. Adults of this species have short forked brown tails and brown wings. Adult males are raspberry red on the head, breast, back, and rump; their back is streaked. Adult females have light brown upperparts and white underparts with dark brown streaks throughout; they have a white line on the face above the eye.
Purple fiches occur in Canada and the northeastern United States. Birds from northern Canada migrate to the southern United States; other birds are permanent residents. Purple finches prefer to breed in coniferous and mixed forests. They can also be found in various wooded and semi-open areas, including suburbs and overgrown fields, avoiding more heavily populated urban areas, but sometimes found in rural residential areas.
During the winter time, Purple finches are social and often spend time in flocks that may contain different species. With the start of the breeding season, these birds become territorial. Purple finches forage by day in trees and bushes, and sometimes in ground vegetation. In order to communicate with each other, they make a distinctive “tick” call in flight and their song is a rich musical warble.
Purple finches have a herbivorous (granivorous) and carnivorous (insectivorous) diet. They mainly eat seeds, insects, and sometimes berries. They are fond of sunflower seeds, millet, and thistle.
Purple finches have a monogamous mating system and form pairs. They usually nest on a horizontal branch or in a fork of a tree. The female is responsible for building her nest; it is shaped like an open cup, made up of rootlets, twigs, and weeds, and lined with grass, hair, and moss. The female lays between 3 and 6 eggs and incubates them for about 13 days. The chicks hatch altricial and both parents feed them until they are ready to leave the nest in about 2 weeks after hatching.
This species is not considered threatened at present.
The IUCN Red List and other sources don’t provide the number of the Purple finch total population size. Currently, this species is classified as Least Concern (LC) on the IUCN Red List but its numbers today are decreasing.