Most of our breeding songbirds have fledged young by now.\u00a0 One species, however, is just getting started.\u00a0 That species is the American Goldfinch.<\/p>\n
Male goldfinches in their summery finery are well known by all.\u00a0 However, the more drab, olive-colored female is sometimes confusing.\u00a0 In the winter when both sexes are dull, misidentifications sometimes occur.<\/p>\n
The American Goldfinch is a member of the finch family, the Fringillidae.\u00a0 Other finches like the House Finch, Evening Grosbeak and Pine Siskin do not undergo a complete molt in the spring.\u00a0 Not so the goldfinch.\u00a0 These birds molt all of their body feathers.\u00a0 Males are transformed from a muted olive color to the beautiful yellow and black of the breeding season.\u00a0 I am sure you have enjoyed watching the transformation of goldfinches in the spring.\u00a0 First, a little yellow appears, gradually replacing all of the duller feathers.<\/p>\n
Why do goldfinches begin nesting so late in the season? Some ornithologists think their spring molt may be the explanation.\u00a0 Molting is an energetically expensive activity.\u00a0 Replacing all of the body feathers is a lot more costly than replacing only some of the feathers, as seen in other North American finches.\u00a0 American Goldfinches may need some time in the early summer to recover from the demands of the molt process.<\/p>\n
Other ornithologists have noted that American Goldfinch nesting seems to be closely tied to the flowering of thistle plants.\u00a0 Courtship usually begins about the time that thistle flowers appear.\u00a0 By the time the eggs have hatched, thistle seeds are available for the parents to feed themselves and their young.<\/p>\n
In flight, goldfinches have a characteristic undulating flight.\u00a0 They beat their wings a few times to gain a little altitude and then fold their wings tightly against the body and glide for a bit, losing a little bit of altitude.<\/p>\n
During courtship, look for a couple of flight displays that are distinctly different from the normal undulating flight.\u00a0 One type is called Butterfly Flight. \u00a0A male will fly with steady, slow wing beats, maintaining a constant height above the ground.\u00a0 The male circles over a prospective nesting area, singing its rambling, warbling song.\u00a0 The displaing male is frequently joined by other males, all circling over a nesting area and singing.\u00a0 Quite a display to see.<\/p>\n
Later in the breeding season, the Moth Flight can be seen.\u00a0 A male uses rapid wing beats to hover for a short period of time.\u00a0 This display is seen just before mating.\u00a0 Sometimes, a female will perform the Moth Flight.<\/p>\n
Nests are most often built in scrub habitats, usually in a deciduous shrub.\u00a0 Both sexes seem to be involved in selecting a nest site but only the female constructs the nest.\u00a0 Unlike many nesting birds, American Goldfinches do not usually defend a breeding territory for the duration of the nesting season.\u00a0 A male goldfinch may defend a nest site while the female is building the nest.\u00a0 Otherwise, males tolerate the incursion of other goldfinches into their breeding area.<\/p>\n
Five eggs is the typical clutch size although as many as seven and as few as two eggs have been found in some nests.<\/p>\n
The female does all the incubation of the eggs.\u00a0 The female often spends long periods of time on the nest and is fed by her mate.\u00a0 Eggs hatch usually after 12 to 14 days.<\/p>\n
Both parents feed the nestlings but the male shoulders more of the responsibility.\u00a0 Some nestlings may leave the nest after 11 days while others may not leave until 17 days after hatching.<\/p>\n
Because of the late start to the nesting process in goldfinches, these birds are usually restricted to a single clutch per season.<\/p>\n
Although goldfinches are regulars at bird feeders, learning some of their calls will allow you to detect goldfinches flying overhead. A characteristic flight call can be rendered as per-chi-co-ree <\/em>or potato chip.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/em><\/p>\n Goldinches also have a characteristic, whiny note, which serves as an alarm call.\u00a0 The scientific name of the goldfinch is Carduelis tristis<\/em>; tristis <\/em>means sad and refers to this whiny call.<\/p>\n Goldfinches are widely distributed throughout North America so these wonderful birds are well known to all birders.\u00a0 In much of the United States, goldfinches are resident birds although sometimes birds will migrate further south for the winter.\u00a0 In southern Canada, goldfinches are only found in the summer while in the southern tier of states, only wintering goldfinches are expected.<\/p>\n [Originally published on August 1, 2010]<\/p>\n\n Most of our breeding songbirds have fledged young by now.\u00a0 One species, however, is just getting started.\u00a0 That species is the American Goldfinch. Male goldfinches in their summery finery are well known by all.\u00a0 However, the more drab, olive-colored female is sometimes confusing.\u00a0 In the winter when both sexes are dull, misidentifications sometimes occur. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":146,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[433,420],"tags":[],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/mainebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/mainebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/mainebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/mainebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/146"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/mainebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=321"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/mainebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":323,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/mainebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321\/revisions\/323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/mainebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/mainebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/mainebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}