Hi Tweets,

Deb Buetler writes:

>For the last three years, I have had a female Carpodacus finch visit
(snip)

then Jack Bowling writes:

>Above description could be of either a female Cassin's or a female Purple
finch,
>although I would favor Purple given the browish tones mentioned. Female
Cassin's
>often tend to be of a colder gray tone than Purple. A good but not 100%
infallible
>field mark on a silent bird is the presence (Cassin's) or lack (Purple) of
streaking
>on the undertail coverts.

Apparently, juvenile and some first-year Purple Finch C. purpureus can have
some undertail covert-streaking. I'd wonder if this held true for both
'Western' and 'Eastern' Purps.

>However, the absolutely best ID characters for
>distinguishing amongst the Carpodacus finches are the flight calls. The
three-parted
>"cheedliup" of the Cassin's is very different from the dry "pit" of the
Purple (and
>also different from the House Finch's House Sparrow-like calls).

Concur with Jack but caution that Purple Finch *also* has a more slurred
version of the Cassin's flight call, a burrier, slurred 'cheeryup' that
sounds like a sore throated Cassin's Finch C. cassinii--the consistent
difference is that Cassin's has a clear, crisp quality in which one can hear
each note separately.

>Note that the
>full courtship songs of the males, although distinguishabel with practice,
are easier
>to confuse than the call notes.

And the little demons are excellent mimics, too.

Michael Price A brave world, Sir,
Vancouver BC Canada full of religion, knavery, and change;
mprice at mindlink.net we shall shortly see better days.
Aphra Behn (1640-1689)