Miles Moody from Pixabay • A male American goldfinch in summer nesting plumage is one of the region’s most vibrant songbirds.
Johnson City resident Jo Wheeler posted a comment on Facebook on July 15 under a weekly posting promoting the “Feathered Friends” weekly column.
“We saw the American goldfinch in out backyard over the weekend,” Jo wrote. “It was amazing.”
I was so pleased to hear Jo’s excitement about the goldfinch. The American goldfinch is a commonplace bird, but once you take a close look at this bird it’s readily apparent that there’s really noting common about it at all.
Goldfinches are extraordinary in appearance, particularly at this time of the year. The plumage of the male goldfinch during the nesting season is a bold pattern of black and white against a backdrop of golden-yellow feathers. These birds also form fussy but sociable flocks that congregate at bird feeders or bird baths in many a backyard.
A sighting of a goldfinch can be memorable. I still retain vivid imagery of these birds from childhood, long before I could identify them by name. They would always appear in late summer, perching atop the three blue spruces in our yard. The trees are no longer standing, but the memories of those colorful yellow and black birds endure.
Summer is the season of plenty for American goldfinches. Roadside ditches are choked with chicory, evening primrose and other seed-producing plants often dismissed as “weeds.” Simply driving local roads can, and often does, produce sightings of flocks of American goldfinches as they forage for seeds.
These small, colorful finches are also regular visitors to my feeders, although they don’t really need my offering of black oil sunflower seeds to supplement the natural smorgasbord available to them.
Their fondness for seeds has inspired many of the common names for this bird, including lettuce bird, thistle-bird, yellow-bird and wild canary. My late grandmother, Bertha Sneyd, introduced me to the term “lettuce bird” as an alternative name for goldfinch. As she explained, the finches would come to gardens once lettuce had gone to seed.
This fondness and dependence on seeds for its dietary needs has even shaped the nesting habits of this species. The American goldfinch is also one of the last songbirds to nest each season.
According to a profile of the American goldfinch posted at the website for the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, goldfinches don’t even start to think about nesting until late July and early August. Their nesting season is timed deliberately to coincide with this season of natural abundance. Goldfinches feed their young mostly on seeds, as opposed to most songbirds that work so hard to gather insects to feed their young a protein-rich diet.
It’s a satisfying irony that, although brown-headed cowbird females sometimes slip their eggs into a goldfinch nest, any cowbirds hatched in those nests rarely survive. While goldfinch hatchlings are adapted to thrive on a diet of seeds, the fostered young cowbirds fail to thrive on a diet so lacking in the protein derived from insects.
While the male American goldfinch during the breeding season is unmistakable in his bright yellow, black and white plumage, the female goldfinch is more subdued in coloration. Males also sing a bubbly, cheerful song when seeking to win the attention of a potential mate.
According to the profile on the TWRA website, the goldfinch’s song is a variable series of musical trills and twitters, often interspersed with a bay beephrase. The distinctive flight call is described as sounding like “potato chip” or “per chicory.”
For these and other reasons, goldfinches are favorites of many bird lovers. There are actually three species of goldfinches in North America. The two related species are Lawrence’s goldfinch of California and the lesser goldfinch, which ranges through the southwestern United States as well as Central and South America.
Lawrence’s goldfinch was named by John Cassin in 1850 for his colleague George Lawrence, a New York businessman and amateur ornithologist. His enthusiasm for birds must have impressed his colleagues. One bird genus and 20 species were named in his honor. Lawrence’s goldfinch, known by the scientific name Spinus lawrencei, honors him doubly with both the scientific and common names for the bird.
The American goldfinch is also known by other common names, including wild canary, yellowbird and willow goldfinch. I’ve also heard the goldfinch referred to as “lettuce bird.” This nickname, which was one my maternal grandmother applied to the bird, relates to the bird’s fondness for seeds. Apparently the goldfinches would flock to lettuce plants in the garden once they had gone to seed.
Photo by Bryan Stevens • A male American goldfinch perched.
Come winter, this vibrant American goldfinch undergoes a transformation into a dull, drab bird with grayish feather. In fact, this annual molt usually begins in September. During the fall and winter, the American goldfinch looks almost like an entirely different bird.
It’s understandable why people love to entertain flocks of these finches in their yards and gardens. Three states — Washington, Iowa and New Jersey — have gone so far as to make the American goldfinch their official state bird.
The best strategy for attracting goldfinches is to provide some of their favorite foods. Black oil sunflower seed and the seeds of nyjer thistle are highly favored. The tiny thistle seeds require special feeders. Mesh “socks” can also be used to dispense the thistle seed.
An alternative is to plant a garden that offers an abundance of fresh seeds. A stand of sunflowers will attract goldfinches, as well as other birds such as indigo bunting and house finch. Liatris, also known as gay feather, produces flower spikes that are sought out by goldfinches for their seeds. Other favorites include asters and coneflowers. The bonus is that even after the beautiful blooms are past, the birds can still benefit from the seeds left behind after flowering.
To share an observation, make a comment or ask a question, email me at ahoodedwarbler@aol.com.
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