ML464052541

Observation details

Female-plumaged bird visited feeders 3 times over the count period, staying about 5-10 minutes each time. It may have been attracted by a pair of House Finches but did not associate or interact with them. We both saw the bird very well in good light at about 15 feet and had no difficulty identifying it as a Purple Finch, a species we are very familiar with at this site. We were able to get only a cell-phone photo which is not very good, but does show the characteristic head pattern of the streaked form of this species which is totally unlike that of a House Finch, or any other species that would be a reasonable candidate for appearance here. They are common feeder birds in winter, so this is clearly an aberration, but not beyond reason as the species breeds in the higher Alleghenies to our west. We are already seeing some other post-breeding wanderers, so this bird may fall into that category.