House finch vs. purple finch

I've always had trouble remembering which finch we see more often, and what the difference is.

House finch is the common one around here.  (around the house, maybe)

It looks like a goldfinch with some red on it.  

Purple finch is rounder and redder.

Who's visiting today

The bird garden was a very busy place when I got up at 10 am.  The seeds are going fast, and we need a new bag of sunflowers.   The bird bath needs a good cleaning.  Suet is almost gone - but we do have 2 full cases in the car.  At the rate the finches are going through it, the niger seed will be gone soon.  I'm glad Sharon and Dan are enjoying bird watching as much as I am, so they'll help!  

A naughty squirrel is trying to finish off the suet, after foiling the baffle, but is somewhat deterred by the way we put the suet in the feeder: hang the feeder at an angle, with the suet cake still in the plastic container, with the open side of the cake facing down.

So far today I've seen:

cardinals

pine siskins

goldfinches

juncos

house sparrows

bluejays

red bellied woodpecker

downy woodpecker

white breasted nuthatch

tufted titmouse (don't see it very often)

house finch

Nothing new; these are all regulars.

Dan just put out a new suet feeder with 2 cakes of suet, trying to hang it in the right way to foil the squirrels.

He also topped off the niger seed feeders and through out some peanuts.  The good squirrel is happy as a clam, chowing down on peanuts and seeds on the ground.  The blue jays are quite frustrated - they've tried to scare him off by squawking, but he's not buying.  The light on the ground near the squirrel (and peanuts) but the don't quite have the nerve to get close enough to him to swipe the peanuts.  They have to make do with sunflower seeds.

  

I decided to get with it and start a blog.  As Sharon told me, most blogs are dull, dull, dull, so this will be primarily a journal just for me.