During some early-morning backyard birding, while many birds in the area were singing, I heard a distinct, different call. The Merlin app's "Sound ID" feature identified it as a Purple Finch song. That would have been a new yard bird, so I looked around in the trees but didn't see one. The bird didn't sing again to help confirm its presence. But after a few minutes a brown finch visited one of our feeders. In reviewing the photos later, it looks good to ID as a female Purple Finch. I'm guessing then there was a male-female pair in the yard.

These photos are © 2023 Phil Thompson, all rights reserved.

My "birds in review" collages can be found here.