Pretty redhead

I'd been seeing a pair of house finches come to drink from the birdbath every now and then, but I was never able to grab the camera and get it focused quickly enough before they flew away. Finally, on Saturday, I was successful! Here's the elusive pair.

They flew to the ground after they left the bath, so I was standing in the window trying to get a good distant shot of them, when all of a sudden they flew back to the deck railing right in front of me!

This is bland-looking female.

And here's the pretty male.

How come the male birds always get the pretty colors??? Not fair!!! ;-)

Update: It has been brought to my attention that these are not purple finches, as first stated, but instead the very-similar-looking house finches. I have edited the post to say so, lest I misinform anyone searching the internet for images of purple finches, rather than just adding this correction at the bottom. Thank you to my knowledgeable informant! :-)