By Matt White

             Its amazing to me how things change as time goes by.   When I started birding a number of years ago, the Purple Finch was a regular winter visitor to feeders and area woodlands.   A companion of the more common American Goldfinch, Purple Finches are noticeably larger and really stand out.  The females are decorated with rich chocolate brown streaks and a white line over the eye, while the males are similarly patterned but appear to have been soaked in red wine.  To say that they are beautiful is an understatement.

I hate to admit it, but I took them for granted.  Then suddenly without warning, for reasons that are not entirely clear, they nearly vanished from our area (and most of the state as well).  Oh sure, a few birds turned up somewhere every winter, but for well over a decade they performed a real disappearing act.   I can almost recall each and every sighting that I had during the past fifteen years or so.   Like many others I often wondered if they would ever return.

What makes this story even more interesting, or depressing, is the introduction of the very similar House Finch—an aggressive western North American species that was introduced in New York in 1940 and subsequently invaded the eastern half of the continent over the next half century.  House Finches are about the size of goldfinches, but are dingy gray brown and are typically red or reddish orange rather than wine colored.  Sometimes it is difficult to tell them apart, but House Finches lack the white line over the eye and the males appear to wear a red bib on the chest. 

About the time Purple Finches departed east Texas each winter, the House Finch began taking its place—leading some to suggest that species was responsible for the disappearance of the Purple Finch.  Others theorized that the sudden increase in bird feeding up north prevented the birds from migrating south in winter.  

Whatever the cause, each and every year, as fall turns into winter, I take to the woods and watch the feeders in hopes that this now elusive visitor will return.  One afternoon this past December I was gathering firewood from our bottoms when I paused to rest and glimpsed a female in the trees!  To lure it to the feeders I purchased a bag of fresh thistle and fresh black oil sunflower seeds and filled the tube feeders and hung them outside the kitchen window.  Our feeders consist of a simple pole with two candy cane arms, each supporting a single feeder. 

It took only a day for so before the goldfinches began arriving—but within a week, suddenly like a phantom, a female Purple Finch was taking seed.  I grabbed the camera and started clicking away when another appeared.  For some reason the females out number the males but by the next day a couple of males showed up too.  Since then I have made it a point to keep the feeders freshly stocked each day so the birds will not be tempted to go elsewhere for food.  So far it has worked because we have been feeding over 300 goldfinches and at least ten or twenty Purple Finches every day—though not all at once!   Besides allowing our family to study the birds up close it is also a wonderful learning experience for children and grandchildren.   But for me it has been exciting each morning to look out the window before starting a busy day and revel in the return of the Purple Finch.