{"id":140381,"date":"2025-02-20T02:40:28","date_gmt":"2025-02-20T08:40:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=140381"},"modified":"2025-07-07T11:56:46","modified_gmt":"2025-07-07T16:56:46","slug":"winter-male-purple-finch-images-plus-a-fun-bonus-photo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/02\/20\/winter-male-purple-finch-images-plus-a-fun-bonus-photo\/","title":{"rendered":"Winter Male Purple Finch Images Plus A Fun Bonus Photo"},"content":{"rendered":"

After the sleet, ice, and snow from the recent winter storm, I was thrilled to have a Purple Finch in my viewfinder for a bit, even though it was bitter cold.<\/p>\n

\"MaleMale Purple Finch after a snowstorm \u2013 Canon R7, f8, 1\/2000, ISO 800, +0.7 EV, Canon EF 100-400mm II at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I saw a low of 13\u00b0F yesterday morning, and when I went outside to watch or photograph birds, I wasn\u2019t out there for long.<\/p>\n

But I couldn\u2019t resist trying to photograph the birds in the snow because, well, snow. It doesn\u2019t happen here all that often, so when it does, I\u2019m going to take full advantage of the snow.<\/p>\n

\"PurplePurple Finch male on a bright winter day \u2013 Canon R7, f8, 1\/2500, ISO 800, +0.3 EV, Canon EF 100-400mm II at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The snow tempted quite a few Purple Finches to visit the seed feeders, and I was ready for them, camera in hand.<\/p>\n

I’ve been waiting to have these gorgeous male Purple Finches in my viewfinder since I left Virginia in 2001. I never saw this species in Utah, Montana, and Idaho, but I did see Cassin’s Finches<\/span><\/a>, which look a bit similar.<\/p>\n

\"MaleMale Purple Finch checking out the feeder \u2013 Canon R7, f8, 1\/2500, ISO 800, +0.3 EV, Canon EF 100-400mm II at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Watching and photographing the male Purple Finches was fun yesterday, even though the temp was so low. I saw one male get into a squabble with an American Goldfinch that I wish I could have recorded on video, but by then, my fingers were going numb, and I had to get back inside to warm up.<\/p>\n

Oh, by the way, the background of all these photos is snow, shaded by the long winter shadows of some of the pine trees in the yard.<\/p>\n

\"FemaleFemale Northern Cardinal and male Purple Finch face off \u2013 Canon R7, f8, 1\/2000, ISO 800, +0.7 EV, Canon EF 100-400mm II at 400mm, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

But as my luck would have it, I did take photos of a female Northern Cardinal and a male Purple Finch<\/span><\/a> facing off over the seed feeder! The female cardinal flew off before the finch, in case you were wondering.<\/p>\n

Maybe I will get outside today to photograph more birds with snowy backgrounds. The temp is in the single digits here and with the windchill it feels like -2\u00b0F. That may need to warm up a bit!<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Purple Finch photos plus facts and information about this species. Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Northern Cardinal photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After the sleet, ice, and snow from the recent winter storm, I was thrilled to have a Purple Finch in my viewfinder for a bit\u2014even though it was bitter cold.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":140370,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13950,27,10269,16011,13951],"tags":[4004,14199,14197,14200,6487,9185,13981,4070,3504,3495,13931,16012,16249,4062,14198,16013,4050,4899,4328,15824,373,13966],"class_list":["post-140381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arkansas","category-avian","category-northern-cardinals","category-purple-finches","category-sebastian-county","tag-adult","tag-cardinal","tag-cardinalis-cardinalis","tag-cardinals","tag-checking-out","tag-face-off","tag-feeder","tag-female","tag-finch","tag-finches","tag-garden","tag-haemorhous-purpureus","tag-hook","tag-male","tag-northern-cardinal","tag-purple-finch","tag-snow","tag-snowstorm","tag-snowy","tag-suburban","tag-winter","tag-yard"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/purple-finch-male-snow-mia-mcpherson-3964.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-Awd","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":139028,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/01\/29\/female-purple-finch-in-an-arkansas-snowstorm\/","url_meta":{"origin":140381,"position":0},"title":"Female Purple Finch In An Arkansas Snowstorm","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 29, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"I almost forgot! I wanted to share this photo of a female Purple Finch near a seed feeder taken during the snowstorm that hit Arkansas earlier this month.","rel":"","context":"In "Arkansas"","block_context":{"text":"Arkansas","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/arkansas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Female Purple Finch in a snowstorm in Arkansas, Sebastian County","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/purple-finch-snow-female-mia-mcpherson-0580.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/purple-finch-snow-female-mia-mcpherson-0580.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/purple-finch-snow-female-mia-mcpherson-0580.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Before spring arrives, I wanted to share one more snowy male House Finch photo\u2014he perched on a birdbath during a February snowstorm here in Arkansas.","rel":"","context":"In "Arkansas"","block_context":{"text":"Arkansas","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/arkansas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Snowy male House Finch in Arkansas, Sebastian County","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/house-finch-male-snowy-birdbath-mia-mcpherson-C3562.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/house-finch-male-snowy-birdbath-mia-mcpherson-C3562.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/house-finch-male-snowy-birdbath-mia-mcpherson-C3562.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/house-finch-male-snowy-birdbath-mia-mcpherson-C3562.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":137657,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/12\/03\/purple-finch-finally\/","url_meta":{"origin":140381,"position":3},"title":"Purple Finch – Finally!","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 3, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been waiting since the end of summer to see a Purple Finch show up, and yesterday I finally photographed a single female above the seed feeder!","rel":"","context":"In "Arkansas"","block_context":{"text":"Arkansas","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/arkansas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Female Purple Finch at the feeder, Sebastian County, 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2025","format":false,"excerpt":"This female Purple Finch perched above the sunflower seed feeder yesterday, framed by spring grass. She's lingering well after others of her species have moved on.","rel":"","context":"In "Arkansas"","block_context":{"text":"Arkansas","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/arkansas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Spring female Purple Finch in Arkansas, Sebastian County","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/purple-finch-female-lingering-mia-mcpherson-6969.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/purple-finch-female-lingering-mia-mcpherson-6969.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/purple-finch-female-lingering-mia-mcpherson-6969.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/purple-finch-female-lingering-mia-mcpherson-6969.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":140506,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/02\/22\/winter-male-american-goldfinch\/","url_meta":{"origin":140381,"position":5},"title":"Winter Male American Goldfinch","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 22, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"This male American Goldfinch caught my eye after the recent snowstorm here in Arkansas. Why? Because he's starting to molt into his breeding plumage.","rel":"","context":"In "American Goldfinches"","block_context":{"text":"American Goldfinches","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/finches-and-allies\/american-goldfinches\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Winter male American Goldfinch starting to get his breeding plumage, Sebastian County, Arkansas","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/american-goldfinch-male-molt-mia-mcpherson-4125.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/american-goldfinch-male-molt-mia-mcpherson-4125.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/american-goldfinch-male-molt-mia-mcpherson-4125.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/american-goldfinch-male-molt-mia-mcpherson-4125.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=140381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140381\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/140370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=140381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=140381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=140381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}