Episode 82: Purple Finch – Voice of the Wild

This is Brodie with Illinois Extension and I’m here with a new “voice of the wild”

This uncommon finch has been driven from most bird feeders and urban areas by competition from the introduced house finch which is native to the western US. You can still find them in little flocks near healthy woods with lots of tree-bourne fruits and seeds. This is the purple finch

Though the male’s rose-red plumage is indeed beautiful, I more often than not recognize the female’s plumage first. They are very strongly streaked, especially on the face, much more so than their lookalike,and soundalike, the house finch. On this second playthrough i’ll play a house finch first; and the purple second; listen for the sharp and buzzy character of the house finch compared to the clear and open song of the purple finch. here’s the house finch, and here’s our second playthrough of the purple finch.

Thank you to the Macaulay library at the Cornell lab for today’s sound. Learn more about voice of the wild at go.illinois.edu/VOW