Educate Yourself About the American Goldfinch and Other Finches
American Goldfinch
The American Goldfinch has a pinkish bill, black forehead, bright yellow body, black wings, and a black tail. Its length is 5in (13cm) Its wingspan is 9in (23cm) Its voice is a song of clear and sustained canary-like, during its flight, it often repeats “ti-dee-di-di” or “potato-chip”. Their eggs are pale bluish white with no markings, with 1 clutch consisting of 5-6 or (4-6) eggs. The female incubates for about 10-12 days, and fledging time is around 11-17 days. Both male and female feed their young. The females are soft olive green and subdued yellow.
The American Goldfinch old name use to be wild canaries, and they do look like the caged ones. Like other songbirds, the male American Goldfinch can easily be misidentified, when its plumage turns more into a drabber winter color that of the females. But by the time spring is in full bloom, they will return to their beautiful buttery yellow plumage.
You can find these perky little birds in cities, and country sides across the U.S, all the way into Canada throughout the year, but to avoid extreme cold weather they will leave extreme northern latitudes. They will nest in all areas, except for parts of the extreme South, and Southwest, and a strip of the far western mountains, although these parts are part of their winter range.
Goldfinches prefer to spend their time in open spaces of fields, and backyards, as they practice their trademark flight of swooping curves across the sky. The ones that stay in colder climates have different ways of staying alive during frigid winter nights. Some examples are as to staying warm; is by making tunnels in the snow, or choosing protected shelters deep in a patch of conifers. They also fill their crops in the later part of the afternoon for an extra supply of seeds, to digest during the night.
The American Goldfinch and other goldfinches only nest once, very late in the season, unlike other birds that usually are very busy during spring and summer time, with raising young nestling's. So, most of the time you will find these common little backyard birds flitting from one seed patch of dandelion puffs to another, visiting your hanging bird feeders, in relatively large numbers.
The female goldfinch usually chooses the nest site in late summer, in a dense shrub using woven plant fibers for building materials of the nest, and makes it extra cozy, lining it with thistle down. During the incubation witch last for about 12 days, she relies on her counter part to feed her, and will be begging for food just like the other nestlings.
If you like to attract the American Goldfinch and other goldfinches, to your lovely bird feeding garden and backyard, plant trees like alder, elm, maple, and birch. You can also plant coneflowers, sunflowers, cosmos, zinnias, coreopsis, and tickseeds in your garden. Fill your hanging bird feeders with black-oil sunflower seeds, and nyger seeds (special tube ones for nyger seeds).
