Female Rose-breasted Grosbeak and female Purple Finch

The female Purple Finch is frequently mistaken for the female Rose-breasted Grosbeak. Far less colorful than the males, these females are very difficult to distinguish from each other. The Rose-breasted Grosbeak winters just south of the U.S. in Mexico, Central America, and northern South America. Although it rarely comes to feeders in most of the U.S. and Canada in winter, sometimes individuals do show up. The Purple Finch, on the other hand, winters along the Pacific and throughout the Eastern U.S. and Southeastern Canada, making it a much more common feeder visitor.

Further complicating identification, two finches can be challenging to distinguish from the Purple Finch: the House Finch, whose female lacks the bold white eye stripe, and the Cassin’s Finch, which usually is only found in western mountains. Those three species are covered on a separate Tricky ID page.