Future Thursday Additions

 For a number of years, I have written a column about birds for the weekly newsletter of the Dallas Retirement Village where my wife Jeanette and I live. I have always considered that the audience of the publication is the residents of Dallas Retirement Village. Today I met the adult children of a resident couple, and they remarked about reading my article "Bird Watch!"  As it turns out, they receive an electronic copy of the newsletter.  I had actually known of other family members having the same experience.  Today I got to thinking about the wider geographic audience of Cascade Ramblings, and that you all would possibly also enjoy these articles as well, so, I have decided to share these weekly "Bird Watch!" articles on this blog.  Starting next week, they will be posted here every Thursday. The article below is from this past week.

Bird Watch!

 

Purple Finch male

I was very excited to be able to photograph this male Purple Finch here at Dallas Retirement Village last Friday, March 17th. It is very unusual for this location. In fact, this is the first one I have seen here. They prefer conifer forested areas.  The other red finch that is common here and can be seen virtually all year long is the House Finch.  The first clue that this is a Purple Finch male is the lack of stripes on the chest.  Famous bird artist and publisher Roger Peterson says that Purple Finches look like they have been "dipped in raspberry juice".