American Goldfinch

 

The American gold finch is about 5 inches long. (To me they seem smaller.)  The male is a bright yellow with a black patch on forehead. They have a black tail with white rump.  Black wings with white wing bars.  No making on the chest.  The male has a major in color in winter. Then they look like like the female.

No pictures of a female this time.  The female builds the nest and has only one  blood a year.  They can migrate.  We have seen them at our house all year round.  They male becomes dull, and blends in to the drabness of the winter.

They like small seeds and will come to feeders.  Usually I hang a special cloth bag on a tree with seeds in it.   We always referred to them as wild canaries.  They love the Nyger Thistle. They do appear like they are flying a roller coaster.  They twitter during flight.  They have a beautiful song.

Right now in the spring they are blending with the new green of trees.  They can be hard to find.