OK, we covered the quieter birds in Lesson 5. You should have some good practice now with telling apart different kinds of birds, and watching their beaks, wings, eyes, and legs for key differences. You should have seen that the birds fly differently, walk differently, even eat differently.

Now let's try something a bit more tricky! There are three kinds of finches that tend to hang out in most peoples yards. They are the goldfinch, house finch, and purple finch.

Goldfinch OK, hopefully you won't confuse this one with the other two! Goldfinches LOVE thistle and the males are bright yellow in the spring. The females and the non-breeding males are more of a dull yellow to green color.

House Finch OK, this gets a bit trickier. The house finch and purple finch are quite similar. The house finch has a red head and breast, but the rest is brown.

Purple Finch The purple finch is the same size as the house finch, and in both cases the female is just brown and white. But the purple finch male is red all over, with just a bit of white on the belly. Even the wings have a reddish hue.

Make sure you put thistle out to bring in the finches. You might be amazed how many were hanging around just waiting for some thistle to appear.

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