American Goldfinch - Brilliant Bird of Mid-Summer

The local bird of mid-summer has to be the American goldfinch, which has been compared to a flying stick of butter.  It’s about that size, and its color is similar, although brighter.  A glimpse of a breeding male goldfinch will take a first-time observer’s breath away. It is brilliantly yellow, and brilliant is an understatement.  This bird is colored a yellow that is so intense that the first time someone sees one, he is not sure that he’s really seen a natural bird.  Yes, it’s that bright.  And that beautiful.

In addition to the bright yellow color, a breeding male has a black patch on its forehead that looks like a jaunty cap topping it off, and its jet-black wings also complement its color perfectly.

By July most birds are winding up their nesting and raising young for the year.  Not so with the American goldfinch.  It’s just getting a good start.  That’s because they like milkweed and thistle, plants that come out later in the season.  The goldfinches incorporate these seeds into their nests as well as feed them to the young birds.  The beautiful design of  goldfinches allows them to reproduce when milkweed and thistle seeds are more prominent.

One way to attract goldfinches is to hang a bag of nyger seed, which is a great substitute for thistle.  Nyger is sterilized (to prevent it from germinating), and net bags of this tiny seed are easily found at hardware and grocery stores.  If the seed is relatively fresh, goldfinches will almost mob it at times.  They are picky, however.  If they ignore a nyger bag, the seed is probably old, and the birds won’t come to it.  They also come to sunflower seed in feeders year-round.

The contrast between a breeding male and a winter male is striking.  In the winter, a male goldfinch is drab – a grayish brown color with gray-black wings and a hint of yellow, almost indistinguishable from the female, who is grayish brown and yellow year round.  But around the end of March, the male’s bright breeding color begins coming in.   Soon it has taken on the lemony butter hue for which it is so well known. 

These birds are common around our area.  Anyone who keeps eyes open has a good chance of seeing one out in open areas.  Even after many years, I still find it a mid-summer treat to look up and see the undulating flight of a pair of goldfinches, the bright yellow of the male leading the way as the two dip and rise through the spring and summer sky.