"NAearthMOM" wrote in message
...
We have purple finches and , I believe they are called "house finches (?)"
but
never in all my years here on LI have I seen a goldfinch!
Once in awhile, in the fall, we'll get a hummingbird or two.
Love Caryn
little birds. We must have a half a dozen pairs in the


"Come into my garden, my flowers want to meet you!"

No, Caryn, purple finches are not the same as house finches. I like
purple finches, but place house finches the same category as mice. We used
to call them English sparrows and didn't like them because they were so
prolific and took over the nest sites of other more desirable birds such as
blue birds or purple martins. Cleaning out house finch nests from the martin
house was a spring chore that I didn't particularly enjoy but did because
they started nesting before the martins arrived and occupied every available
space, which made them unavailable for the martins. They along with
starlings were introduced species that adapted too well. Check this site for
more information:

http://www.baylink.org/wpc/esparrow.html

Here is a link to pictures of the purple finch, whose size and color,
particularly that of the female, resemble the house finch:

http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc/birdid/purfin/

John