Bird of the Month: American Goldfinch
Male American Goldfinch (with male House Finch in background). Photo by Jeff Bryant.
By Roger Digges, CCAS Vice-President
You’re going to love August’s bird of the month. Maybe you already do. Not only are the males of this species brightly colored and easy to see, not only do they make a recognizable call at the bottom of each “swoop” in their undulating flight, but they are one of the easiest birds to attract to your yard, both by planting the right plants and by putting up feeders. Although sometimes called “wild canaries,” perhaps because, also being finches, they’re shaped like domestic canaries, and their plumage resembles that of yellow canaries. But unlike the canaries one sees in cages, which hail from the Canary Islands (naturally) off the coast of northwest Africa, these birds are hatched, raised, and live in North America. There are American Goldfinches in our area year-round, some of “our” birds moving south, others who nested north of us moving into Champaign County. Many never move at all.
Male goldfinches are brightly colored, like other birds we’ve discussed in this blog, mainly to impress females and to intimidate potential male rivals. From late winter through late summer, most of their plumage is a striking yellow, except for their distinctive black cap and black wings streaked with white. Females wear more sensible dull greenish plumage on their backs with duller yellow feathers below. This helps them better blend in with foliage when they are sitting on a nest.
I chose goldfinches as the August bird because they are one of our latest breeding birds, putting off nesting until mid-summer when thistle and similar plants have gone to seed. Their young won’t leave the nest until August. Females lay 2–7 eggs usually where three branches meet in a tall shrub in relatively open areas. I learned from All About Birds that while Brown-headed Cowbirds lay their eggs in goldfinch nests as they do in the nests of 220 other species, cowbird chicks don’t survive in goldfinch nests because they can’t live on the strictly seed goldfinch diet, which means more goldfinch nestlings survive. They don’t have to compete for food with large, burly alien nestlings.
The other reason I chose goldfinches as our August bird is that once they are done raising young this breeding season, unlike most of our year-round birds, the males begin to change color, one feather at a time, from bright yellow to dull gray-green, making them stand out less during the times when they don’t need to impress females or other males. It’s difficult to tell mature males from immature males and females.
Where can you find American Goldfinches? They feed in overgrown areas, especially those with thistle or other small seeds, and nest in small trees or tall shrubs. You can find them in parks, forest preserves, and often in your own backyard if it provides them food. Planting sunflowers, asters, compass plants, and other “seedy” plants help to attract goldfinches.
They also regularly visit feeders, almost any kind of feeder filled with nyjer (thistle) or sunflower seeds. (I’ve found black oil sunflower seeds to be their favorite in my yard.) It’s important to clean your feeders on a regular basis and rake beneath them to reduce the spread of disease.
While there are an estimated 44 million American goldfinches in North America, and Partners in Flight regard them as not a species of concern, as with many birds worldwide, their numbers have declined over the past half-century, in their case by about 27%. Enjoy watching your male goldfinches slowly changing color as fall begins, and celebrate in the spring as they regain their bright yellow and black plumage.