8 Types of Finches Found in North Carolina! (ID Guide)

What kinds of finches can you find in North Carolina?

North Carolina Finches species

Finches are incredibly beautiful birds and a lot of fun to see in your backyard.

Luckily, almost all of them visit bird feeders, so you have a good chance of attracting multiple types of finches to your yard. If you’re lucky, you may even see a finch at my bird feeding station right now! I have a LIVE high-definition camera watching my bird feeders 24/7. 🙂

8 types of finches in North Carolina:

Below you will learn more about each species AND how to identify them by sight OR sound. Make sure to pay attention to the range maps to see which finches live near you!


#1. American Goldfinch

  • Spinus tristis

Kinds of Finches in North Carolina

Identifying Characteristics:

  • In summer, males are a vivid yellow with a black cap and black wings. Females are a duller yellow without a black cap.
  • In winter, both sexes look the same and turn a pale brown/olive color. They’re identified by their black wings and white wing bar.

These small and colorful finches are relatively common in North Carolina.

And luckily, American Goldfinches are relatively easy to attract to bird feeders! Try offering their favorite foods, sunflower kernels and Nyjer seed, which many other birds don’t eat.

It’s also helpful to include bird feeders specially designed for goldfinches. These small birds are easily scared off by larger “bullies.” They’ll appreciate having places that only they can use! I like the fact they can feed in any position, even upside down.

American Goldfinch Range Map

american goldfinch range map

American Goldfinches are strict vegetarians. Their diet is exclusively made of seeds with no insects, which is rare in the bird world. Naturally, they feast on seeds from asters, thistles, sunflowers, grasses, and many types of trees.

Because of their diet, American Goldfinches breed later than other birds. They wait until June or July, when most plants are in full seed production, ensuring there’s enough food for them to feed their babies.

To identify them by sound, listen for a pretty series of musical trills and warbles.


#2. House Finch

  • Haemorhous mexicanus

Types of Finches that live in North Carolina

Identifying Characteristics:

  • Males are rosy red around their heads and upper breasts. They have brown streaks on their back, tail, and belly.
  • Females are brown with streaks on their back, tail, and belly.
  • Both sexes have notched tails, and conical beaks designed to eat seeds.

It’s common to see House Finches in North Carolina near people.

Look for them around buildings, backyards, parks, and other urban and suburban areas.

House Finch Range Map

house finch range map

In fact, House Finches are often the first birds to discover new bird feeders. These birds are intensely curious and rarely travel alone, so their arrival often helps other birds find your feeders too! I see them eating sunflower seed, Nyjer seed, and safflower in my yard.

House Finches have an enjoyable song, which can be heard year-round. Listen below to a series of jumbled, warbled notes.


#3. Pine Siskin

  • Spinus pinus

Common North Carolina Finches

Identifying Characteristics:

  • Both sexes are small, brown, and streaked with fine yellow edging on their wings and tails.
  • Sharply pointed bill and a short, forked tail and long pointed wingtips.
  • The only finch in North Carolina where males and females look the same.

Pine Siskins are social and search for food in flocks while chirping nonstop to each other. They don’t even stop chattering when flying!

Pine Siskin Range Map

pine siskin range key

Pine Siskins feed at backyard feeders generally in the winter. They prefer to eat smaller seeds without tough shells, such as sunflower or Nyjer seeds.

Pine Siskins are typically found in mixed evergreen or deciduous forests, but they will move to a new place in search of food, like weedy fields, backyards, or gardens.

Listen below to Pine Siskin’s song, a twittering warble that rises and falls in pitch. They randomly throw in a “ZZZzzzzzreeee” that rises in pitch ever so often. You will notice they sound more wheezy than other finches in North Carolina.

YouTube video

#4. Evening Grosbeak

  • Coccothraustes vespertinus

Evening Grosbeak male and female

Identifying Characteristics:

  • Both sexes have a large, thick, conical beak and are the size of an American Robin.
  • Males are yellow and black with a prominent white patch in the wings and a bright yellow stripe over the eye.
  • Females are mostly gray with white and black wings and a greenish-yellow tinge on their neck and sides.

Evening Grosbeaks are one of the largest finches in North Carolina.

Typically, they are found in the northern coniferous forests, and in winter, they can be found pretty much anywhere as they search for food.

Evening Grosbeaks are known for their large and strong bill. They use these bills to crack open large seeds that other birds are unable to open.

Evening Grosbeak Range Map

evening grosbeak range map

In fact, these finches will show up at feeders far south of their normal winter range, which provides a treat for backyard birders. You can attract them with sunflower seeds placed onto a large platform feeder, which gives these birds ample room to land and eat.

Evening Grosbeaks are one of the few finches in North Carolina without a song. But they do have some simple calls, including sweet, piercing notes and burry chirps, which you can hear below!

YouTube video

#5. Red Crossbill

  • Loxia curvirostra

Red crossbill male and female

Identifying Characteristics:

  • Sparrow-sized. Look for their distinctive crisscrossed bills (which means the upper and lower tips of their beak don’t align; they cross, like crossing your fingers.)
  • Males are red overall with darker brownish-red wings and white wing bars.
  • Females are full-bodied and yellowish with dark unmarked wings.

As their name suggests, Red Crossbills have crisscrossed bills, similar to if you cross your fingers. They adapted these oddly shaped bills to help them break into tightly closed cones, giving them an advantage over other finch species in North Carolina.

They’re found in large coniferous forests during their breeding season, especially spruce, pine, Douglas-fir, hemlock, or larch with recent cone crops. But in winter, they wander wherever they need to go to find food. While not incredibly common, they will sometimes visit bird feeders and eat sunflower seeds.

Red Crossbill Range Map

Red Crossbills are highly dependent on conifer seeds. In fact, they even feed them to their babies instead of insects like most other songbirds. These finches typically breed in late summer but can actually breed any time during the year if a large enough cone crop is available.

Males sing a variably sweet warble, which sounds like “chipa-chipa-chipa, chee-chee-chee. Females rarely sing, but they have call notes that are sharp and metallic.

YouTube video

#6. Purple Finch

  • Haemorhous purpureus

purple finch male and female

Identifying Characteristics:

  • Small, with a conical seed-eating bill.
  • Males have a raspberry red head, breast, and back.
  • Females have prominent streaks of white and brown below, with strong facial markings, including a whitish eyebrow and a dark line down the side of the throat.

Male Purple Finches are beautiful and described as looking like they were dipped in raspberry juice.

Purple Finches use their big beaks and tongues to crush seeds and extract the nut. This is good news because they’ll also visit bird feeders! Your best chance to attract them is using black-oil sunflower seeds. Having conifer trees in your yard is also a great way to encourage these finches to visit.

Purple Finch Range Map

purple finch range map

Purple Finches can be challenging to identify because they look incredibly similar to the more common House Finch. I’ve made this mistake many times, believing that I saw a Purple Finch when it was, in fact, just another House Finch. To tell them apart, look at their back. The Purple Finch’s back has red coloring, while the back of a House Finch has none.

Similar to other finches in North Carolina, males sing a rich, musical warble. Listen below!


#7. Rose-breasted Grosbeak

  • Pheucticus ludovicianus

Red-breasted Grosbeak male and female

Identifying Characteristics:

  • Stocky birds with a large, triangular bill. About the size of an American Robin.
  • Males have black backs and wings, with a distinctive red mark on their white breast.
  • Females are heavily streaked with a white eyebrow and a pale bill.

It’s easy to see how these beautiful finches got their name. One look at the males, and you’ll immediately notice the bright red plumage topping their white breasts. On the other hand, females can be hard to identify, as they look similar to many other birds.

Rose-breasted Grosbeaks like to visit bird feeders, where it uses its huge triangular bill to crack open seeds. I’ve never seen one of these finches use a tube feeder; I don’t think the perches provide enough space for them. If you want to attract them, the best food to use is sunflower seeds set out on a platform feeder.

Rose-breasted Grosbeak Range Map

Rose-breasted Grosbeak males sing to establish territories and attract females. When the female shows up, the male sometimes plays hard-to-get, rejecting her for a day or two before finally accepting her as a mate! To make up for this, they give the female a break and sit on the nest to keep the eggs warm.

Rose-breasted Grosbeaks are known for their beautiful song. It sounds similar to an American Robin but better! Listen for a long series of notes that rise and fall. If you hear one, make sure to look for the male singing from an elevated perch.

YouTube video

#8. Blue Grosbeak

  • Passerina caerulea

Blue grosbeak male and female

Identifying Characteristics:

  • Stocky finch with a huge, triangular bill.
  • Males are deep, rich blue with a tiny black mask in front of the eyes, chestnut wing bars, and a black and silver beak.
  • Females are primarily cinnamon-brown. The color is richer on the head, paler on the underparts; their tails are bluish.

Blue Grosbeaks like seeds and grains at bird feeders in shrubby backyards because they feel more protected. You’ll typically hear them singing before you see them.

Blue Grosbeaks Range Map

Blue Grosbeaks are very shy, especially around humans, which makes them very difficult to observe. Interestingly, both males and females have a weird habit of twitching their tails sideways, although the reason for this behavior is unknown.

Blue Grosbeaks have also been known to “sidle,” where they walk sideways along branches, as seen in parrots.

Listen below as the male Blue Grosbeak sings a musical warble that lasts for 2 or 3 seconds.

YouTube video

Which of these finches have you seen before in North Carolina?

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To learn more about birds that live near you, check out these other guides!

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One Comment

  1. I really enjoyed this detailed guide on finches in North Carolina! The photos are beautiful, and the tips on where to spot them are super helpful. I can’t wait to try my luck at identifying some of these colorful birds in my backyard! Thanks for sharing!