Purple finch or house finch?

I have a hard time telling these two apart. Can someone please tell me if this is a purple finch or house finch? The one on the left is a goldfinch.

Thanks,
Crow

I am not a bird expert, but I have read that the difference between the male House Finch vs the male Purple Finch is its color. The male Purple Finch, as its name implies, is purplish-red, while the male House Finch is orange-red. The male House Finch also has a more distinctive streaked flank, while the male Purple Finch is just reddish.

In addition, the female differences are detected above the eye. The female Purple Finch has a bold, light line above its eye, while the female House Finch does not have this distinctive line.

Hope This Helps, Snug

According to my book, what you have is a purple finch. Me too.

The heavily streaked flanks make this one a House Finch

Resin

Here's a different shot of my guy. What does he look like to you. Are these shots good enough to tell?

I've looked this up on other internet sites and I'm pretty sure Resin is correct and it is a House Finch. I also get the orange colored ones, so at times I guess I have both purple and house finches at the feeder. Thanks for all the input.

3gardeners, your lovely fella is a House Finch. Note the brown on the top of his head (Purples don't have this) and Purples have beautiful raspberry-jam type coloration. Very rich and deep.

Carla

I'm glad I stumbled on this thread. I have never been able to nail down in my mind the differences so this was very helpful. Your "key" of the brown spot on the head especially, Carla.

Here is a pic of a Purple Finch from Cornell. The beak is also different,not curved like the House Finch.
http://content.ornith.cornell.edu/UEWebApp/images/MPR_080602_100050_L.jpg

Thanks y'all! It's a good thing my guys don't understand when I talk to them. :-) I've always called them the wrong thing. The book I look at is one a friend gave me in college in 1991 and only has drawings, not real photos. I love it, but I can see that it's not perfect like photos would be. (that's why I come here to y'all!) It's the 1987 printing of "A Golden Guide - Birds" . It says that the Purple finch is really an old-rose color and doesn't mention the house finch's color at all. And they drew the house finch flying so I mostly see the wings, not the body. That color thing tripped me up. Sorry crowellli. :-(

And Loonie1, that brown head is a great indicator too. I think I need to invest in a better book. :-)

I'm going to do some more "field work" and see if I have both kinds of finches right now. That would be cool. According to my book, Purple finches are down here in the winter. Can anyone confirm that, or is my little book off again?

pelletory, that cornell pic helped a great deal. I had another pic of the same finch from the side and when comparing those two together, it's obvious mine is a house finch. I didn't realize their colors varied so much within the house finch. I've had some that are really tangerine color and others, like this guy, who are truly red. The house finch has a longer tail, the white bars and some brown on his noggin (technical term). Here is the side view that you can also compare to the cornell photo, if anyone else is interested in seeing the differences side by side. I want to do the Feburary back yard bird count, so I need to be able to tell these two birds apart. Now, if I can only figure out the different sparrows!

Thanks to all for the input.

I always like to go to Cornell for their "tricky bird IDs".

I had the same problem IDing. But once I actually saw one, it became much more easy.

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/pfw/AboutBirdsandFeeding/finchIDtable.html

Mrs. Ed - Your Finch Comparison site is the best!! Thank you for sharing.
Snug

Yeah, now it's so obvious! ;-) Thanks!! I'll bookmark it!

you should have seen me last year taking pictures of every male finch because i was SURE it was a purple finch. LOL.