Aviary

American Goldfinch

American Goldfinch (Carduelis tristis) Common in flocks in weedy fields, bushy thickets and in seed-bearing trees. Food includes thistles, sunflowers and dandelions. Female and young are recognized by the unstreaked back and breast, stubby finch bill, American Goldfinchwingbars, notched tail, whitish rump, and undulating roller-coaster flight. Male in winter and immature resemble female. Song is long, high and sweet. Call is "per-chik-o-ree."

Goldfinches are about 5 inches long. They are smaller than a sparrow. The breeding male is bright yellow with a white rump, black forehead, white edges on black wings and tail, and yellow at bend of wing. Goldfinches travel in flocks; the flight is undulating.

Late in the summer, the female goldfinch lays 4 or 5 pale blue eggs in a well-made cup of grass, bark strips and thistle down. The nest is placed in the fork of a small sapling or shrub.

Goldfinches breed from southern British Columbia east to Newfoundland and south to California, Utah , southern Colorado, central Oklahoma, Arkansas, and the Carolinas. They winter in much of United States. I've had them visit my feeders in the Spring. I'm in Southern California.


Order: Passeriformes | Family: Fringillidae | Species: Carduelis tristis



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