I don’t know about you, but I love when the colorful birds return to our feeders. Sharon Bodenus, from Upper Peninsula Photography, recently captured some great shots of the birds around her feeders lately. First up is the Purple Finch, with the top photo being a colorful male and the second photo a plainer female. I’ve never quite figured out why they’re called Purple Finches, because they seem more reddish to me.

The next two shots are actually birds that stay around for the winter months, also, but they’re a couple of my favorites. The Downy Woodpecker and the Chickadee. These two Sharon snapped on one of our recent “snowy” days. Yes, I said snowy and yes, it is the end of April. Winter isn’t over here in the Keweenaw, until the last snowflake falls.

The Purple Finch has a beautiful song, too and you’ll be able to hear it in today’s video, featuring the female and the male of the species. Make sure you have your speakers on.

We have a lot of Purple Finches visiting our feeders here in the tropics currently. They are only winter visitors here so we're guessing they are stocking up for the migration north.

I’ve never quite figured out why they’re called Purple Finches, because they seem more reddish to me.
We were asking that same question today, Mary!

Clarity and detail *****! Don't forget to full-screen the video.

Hi
With regard to being named purple finches when
red, maybe there is another species that
already is called a red finch.This seems to be the
case with the red-bellied woodpecker; the feature
that jumps out at me is the broad red band
covering the back of its head--I'd have named it
red-headed. However, that name is taken by another
species that has a completely red head.