Goldfinches at the Feeders

by Kevin Strauss

As winter drags on for another two months in the northland, at least one bird is brightening our backyards with a new suit of bright yellow feathers. Male American goldfinches are molting their dull olive-yellow feathers and exchanging them for their suits of sun-bright yellow. As they molt, the males will keep their black wings and white wingbars and their black and white tails, but they add a black cap to their breeding plumage outfit.

Females will keep their duller olive-yellow plumage year round. In the bird world, it is the males that get all dressed up and sing to attract a mate. Many female bird species have dull or speckled feathers to help them hide while sitting on their nests.

This is the time of year when goldfinches gather at feeders, making the males in their new yellow feathers much easier to notice. Goldfinches are feeding on thistle, dandelions and sunflower seeds right now, searching for seeds above the snow. They congregate in small flocks in open fields, roadsides or second-growth (recently logged) woodlands.

But even though the males are molting into their "breeding plumage" right now, in some ways, they are "all dressed up with no place to go." Breeding behavior won't start for a while. Goldfinches are the late-bloomers of the bird nesting world. They will not start building their nests until late summer when they can use thistle down to line their nests.

The scientific name for the American goldfinch (Carduelis tristis) translates as "sad thistle eater." While goldfinches feed regularly on thistles, few naturalists would term them "sad." Goldfinches sing a cheery "per-chik-or-ree" call in flight year round. Their other canary-like songs are equally cheery. The name confusion might be due to its history. Carl Linnaeus, who assigned the bird it's scientific name, never traveled to North America where people consider this wild member of the canary family a happy-sounding bird.

While some guidebooks show northern Minnesota as "summer only range" for the goldfinch, it is clear that these birds don't read the guidebooks. Many birdwatchers report seeing goldfinches up here all winter. It all depends on food. On milder winters, when there is less snow on the ground, goldfinches are much more abundant. While goldfinches are rarer in cold, deep-snow winters like this one, they are still around.

So while you are outside this week, listen for the canary-like call of this showy northern bird.

The Ely Timberjay