Distribution

Breeding Range

Breeds from se. Yukon Territory and sw. Northwest Territory, ne. Alberta, n.-central Saskatchewan, central Manitoba, nw. Ontario, s.-central Quebec, and Newfoundland south to Long I., New York, nw. New Jersey, se. Pennsylvania, through the Appalachian Mtns. of e. West Virginia, and in Highland Co., Virginia, sw. Pennsylvania, ne. Ohio, central Michigan, n. Wisconsin, ne. Minnesota, s. Manitoba, se. and s.-central Saskatchewan, e.-central and sw. Alberta, s. British Columbia, and in Washington and Oregon from the eastern slopes of the Cascade Mtns. westward (Figure 1; Godfrey 1986 Godfrey, W. E. (1986). The Birds of Canada. Revised Edition. National Museums of Canada, Ottawa, ON, Canada. Close , Janssen 1987 Janssen, R. B. (1987). Birds in Minnesota. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. Close , Peterjohn 1989b Peterjohn, B. G. (1989). The Birds of Ohio. Indiana University Press, Bloomington, IN, USA. Close , Virginia Society of Ornithology 1989 Ornithology, Virginia Society of. (1989). Virginia's breeding birds: an atlas workbook. Richmond, VA: William Byrd Press. Close , Robbins 1991 Robbins, S. D., Jr. (1991). Wisconsin Birdlife: Population and Distribution, Past and Present. University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, Wisconsin, USA. Close , Brewer et al. 1991 Brewer, R. G., A. McPeak, and R. J. Adams Jr. (1991). The Atlas of Breeding Birds of Michigan. Michigan State University Press, East Lansing, MI, USA. Close , Buckelew and Hall 1994 Buckelew, A. R., Jr., and G. A. Hall (1994). The West Virginia Breeding Bird Atlas. University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, PA, USA. Close , Gilligan et al. 1994 Gilligan, J. D., M. Rogers, A. Smith, and A. Contreras (1994). Birds of Oregon: Status and Distribution. Cinclus Publications, McMinnville, Oregon, USA. Close , Breeding Bird Survey [BBS] data, North American Nest Record Card Program [NRCP] data). In California breeds in the Klamath Mtn. region of the north, along the coast ranges south to e. San Bernadino Co., in the mountains of the southwest, and along the western slopes of the Cascade-Sierra axis from Shasta Co. south to n. Kern Co. (Small 1994 Small, A. (1994). California Birds: Their Status and Distribution. Ibis Publishing Company, Vista, California, USA. Close ).

Isolated populations also breed in Turtle Mtns., and sporadic records along Red River valley of North Dakota (Stewart 1975b Stewart, R. E. (1975). Breeding Birds of North Dakota. Tri-College Center for Environmental Studies, Fargo, North Dakota, USA. Close , BBS data), and possibly in Carter Co. of ne. Tennessee (Robinson 1990a Robinson, J. C. (1990). An Annotated Checklist of the Birds of Tennessee. University of Tennessee Press, Knoxville, TN, USA. Close ). Historical records of breeding activity in mountains of Arkansas (Black 1929b Black, J. D. (1929b). Nesting of the Purple Finch in Arkansas. Wilson Bulletin 41:190-191. Close ) and N. Carolina (Brewster 1886a Brewster, W. (1886a). An ornithological reconnaissance in western North Carolina. Auk 3:173-179. Close ) and in ne. Illinois (Bohlen 1989 Bohlen, H. D. (1989). The Birds of Illinois. Indiana University Press, Bloomington, IN, USA. Close ), but no recent records in these locales. Singing males detected on BBS routes in s. Minnesota and sw. Wisconsin (associated with Mississippi River Valley) and scattered through Indiana (BBS data, J. S. Castrale pers. comm.), but no confirmed breeding records in these areas. Information on breeding status along southern coastal Alaska sparse; requires further investigation.

Winter Range

Pacific Coast of North America from the Cascade and Sierra Nevada mtns. west from w.-central British Columbia south to extreme nw. Baja California except in Central Valley of California (Figure 1; Christmas Bird Count [CBC] data). Many withdraw from higher elevations in west during the winter (Small 1994 Small, A. (1994). California Birds: Their Status and Distribution. Ibis Publishing Company, Vista, California, USA. Close ). Also winters from s. Manitoba east to s. Newfoundland, south to extreme n. Florida, and west to central Texas, central Oklahoma, central Kansas, w. Nebraska, w. South Dakota, and w. North Dakota. Isolated wintering populations consistently observed in central Alberta (Edmonton area) and occasionally elsewhere in Alberta. Periodic observations of wintering populations in s. and central Arizona (Scott 1887a Scott, W. E. D. (1887a). On the avi-fauna of Pinal County, with remarks on some birds of Pima and Gila counties, Arizona. Auk 4:196-205. Close , Simpson and Werner 1958 Simpson, J. M. and J. R. Werner. (1958). Some recent bird records from the Salt River Valley, central Arizona. Condor 60:68-70. Close , CBC data). Also recorded sporadically in winter in Colorado (Andrews and Righter 1992 Andrews, P., and R. Righter (1992). Colorado Birds. Denver Museum of Natural History, Denver, Colorado, USA. Close ), Wyoming (Oakleaf et al. 1992 Oakleaf, B., D. Luce, S. Ritter, and A. Cerovski (1992). Wyoming Bird and Mammal Atlas. Wyoming Game and Fish Department, Laramie, WY, USA. Close ), and Montana (McEneaney 1993 McEneaney, T. (1993). The Birder's Guide to Montana. Falcon Press, Helena, MT, USA. Close ). Isolated reports of occurrence in Anchorage and Homer, AK (West and Bailey 1986 West, G. C. and E. P. Bailey. (1986). Rustic Bunting, Purple Finch, and Cassin's Finch in south central Alaska. Murrelet 67:32. Close ). Few data on wintering status along coastal British Columbia and s. Alaska; needs further investigation. Numbers often decline in northern areas as winter progresses (e.g., Janssen 1987 Janssen, R. B. (1987). Birds in Minnesota. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. Close , Peterjohn 1989b Peterjohn, B. G. (1989). The Birds of Ohio. Indiana University Press, Bloomington, IN, USA. Close ). Erratic and irruptive during winter. May winter commonly in a given area one year and be virtually absent the next.

Range appears to have contracted from n. Illinois and Indiana and from s. Appalachian Mtns. over the past 80 yr. No appreciable changes over the past 30 yr (BBS data).