Near the Sun Field Station. Dudley Carlson says: "I think your "bird in a tree" photo is a female Purple Finch. It has the diagnostic pale line above the eye and along the lower cheek that a House Finch lacks - though I'm no expert, and they vary." Wikipedia 5/2016 re the genus: "This species and the other "American rosefinches" are placed in the genus Haemorhous by the American Ornithologists' Union but have usually been included in Carpodacus. It is included in the finch family, Fringillidae, which is made up of passerine birds found in the northern hemisphere and Africa. The purple finch was originally described by Johann Friedrich Gmelin in 1789.[2]
"There are two subspecies of the purple finch, H. p. purpureus and H. p. californicus. H. p. californicus was identified by Spencer F. Baird in 1858.[2] It differs from the nominate subspecies in that it has a longer tail and shorter wing. The plumage of both males and females are darker, and the coloration of the females is more greenish.[3] The bill of C. p. californicus is also longer than that of the nominate subspecies.[4]" -- Wikipedia, 5/2016.