American Goldfinch

American Goldfinch
Does the American Goldfinch Look Familiar to you?
Does this bird look familiar? It should! The American Goldfinch is one of the most plentiful birds in the USA and Canada. If you have a bird feeder in your yard, you're very likely to see these birds. They are very fond of sunflower seeds and thistle. You can find them roaming around the wild in the open, weed-filled fields across the country. Picture Left: American Goldfinch eating thistle seeds at a feeder, by Thomas O'Neil, available online here.

The American Goldfinch
A Delightful Bird to Watch
Offer thistle seed in your birdfeeder and the American Goldfinch just might stop by for a visit. It is beautiful songbird dressed in bright yellow feathers. Even a novice backyard birder can identify it. The finch is a song bird, and American Goldfinch is no exception. Its musical warbles and twitters are easy to distinguish from the songs of other songbirds. I rarely see the Goldfinch here on the coast as the heat and humidity is so intense, but when I visit my mother in Minnesota it is not ...

American Goldfinch
Breeding male bright yellow with black cap and wings.
The American Goldfinch is frequently found in weedy fields and visiting feeders. It shows a particular fondness for thistles, eating the seeds and using the down to line its nest. I recently read a study done about Goldfinches and thistle that suggests the thistle seeds that the American songbird covets for food may also signal breeding time. It is no accident that Goldfinches mate when the thistles are blooming.

American Goldfinch
Smaller than a Sparrow!
The American Goldfinch, Carduelis tristis, is no bigger than 5 inches long, making this bird a small and tiny bird. Shown here is the bright bold color of the Male American Goldfinch, with his black forehead, and his pink beak. The wings are black and white striped, and there is a yellow patch in the wing joint. During the winter, both the male and the female lose the brightness of the yellow, and they dull in color. Some seasoned bird watchers have fed the gold finch in their yard feeders s...