I think those are House Finches, Gil. Purple Finches are very red all over including the underside and the back just above the tails and a red wash throughout all the wing streaks. I've read them described as 'the whole bird looks like its been dipped in raspberry juice'. I have 3 males and several females at the moment in my yard and am hoping they stay around. Konrad, I'm fairly certain yours is also a House Finch as well. I find they vary greatly in the amount of red or orange present on the head, neck and breast. I have had a very special visitor the last couple of days - a European Goldfinch. I managed to get some poor quality photos today, mostly so I could ask the experts for ID which I got today. Gonna be trying to get a better photo, but in the meantime, this is what it looks like. Here is a link that might be useful: Photo of European Goldfinch

I was standing at the kitchen sink maybe 3 feet from the bird. I used the zoom on macro. Never used macro on zoom, but figured if it zooms you in close, you need it.. no blurriness this time. I need to keep my window clean though! Yesterday, we had the house finches, White Crowned Sparrows and the Goldfinches all at the feeder. Couldn't get a good shot because of shadows.

I wonder if it might be an escaped White-headed Nun finch? Was the head pure white or was it mottled? What were the body markings like? If there is mottling or a piebald/pied effect it might be partially leucistic. This is a link to a picture of what I think is probably a partially leucistic house finch - see the mottling and some traces of the normal red coloring http://www.pbase.com/image/109596442 The nun finch (white-headed munia) is a caged bird. Escaped birds apparently easily hybridize with other finches. There are many subspecies of nun finches - they range from white heads just from the neck up to well down onto the shoulders, from a reddish brown body color with the tail the same color to a deeper red, or a more grayish brown body and tail. It would be hard to guestimate what a hybrid might look like. I don't know how well an escaped White Headed Munia (nun) finch would overwinter, but a hybrid would probably handle that better. If you can get a picture - several actually - that would answer a lot of questions. An escaped or hybrid version of a white headed nun finch seems unlikely - but so does a leukistic bird, LOL! This is a white-headed nun finch: Here is a link that might be useful: Google image search for white headed finches

Looks like a purple finch. House finches don't have as much red on them. Thanks for posting this. Very pretty bird!