Haemorhous purpureus
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
The purple finch (Haemorhous purpureus) is a bird in the finch family, Fringillidae. It breeds in the northern United States, southern Canada, and the west coast of North America. The purple finch was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with the finches in the genus Fringilla and coined the binomial name Fringilla purpurea. Gmelin specified the locality as Carolina. Gmelin based his account on the "purple finch" that had been described and illustrated by the English naturalist Mark Catesby in his book The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands. The purple finch is now one of three finches placed in the genus Haemorhous that was introduced in 1837 by the English naturalist William Swainson.
Two subspecies are recognised: This species and the other "American rosefinches" were formerly included with the rosefinches of Eurasia in the genus Carpodacus; however, the three North... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kluane National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 2 | Acadia National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Gros Morne National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 4 | Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Riding Mountain National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 6 | Yosemite National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Redwood National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Cape Breton Highlands National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 9 | Elk Island National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 10 | Voyageurs National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 11 | Pacific Rim National Park Reserve | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 12 | Olympic National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 13 | Isle Royale National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 14 | Point Pelee National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 15 | Great Bear Rainforest | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 16 | Great Smoky Mountains National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 17 | Jasper National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 18 | Shenandoah National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 19 | Congaree National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 20 | Banff National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 21 | Channel Islands National Park | 🇺🇸 United States |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vancouver | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 2 | Seattle | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Portland | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | San Francisco | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Montreal | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 6 | Edmonton | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 7 | Sacramento | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | New York City | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | Chicago | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 10 | Toronto | 🇨🇦 Canada |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Purple Finch sighting in Sacramento on a given day, based on 634 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 103rd most-seen of the 235 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
November to March
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Purple Finch in Sacramento on a given day, against under 5% in April to October, the lowest months. Those are among Sacramento's wettest months, with about 90 mm of rain a month against almost none in July.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Purple Finch sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
7th of 22
Of the 22 cities where we can rate Purple Finch sightings, Sacramento ranks 7th at under 5%. The best odds are in Vancouver (Canada, about 20%), Seattle (United States, about 10%) and Portland (United States, about 10%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Purple Finch is recorded against all the birds logged in Sacramento (634 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
