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| American Goldfinch and Pine Siskin |
(published 6-4-13)
People who are looking at something through binoculars
always get my attention. I think you know why.
Pulling into work on a recent morning I saw such a person. Naturally I rolled down the driver’s side
window and asked the obvious, “Are you looking at birds?”
Indeed he was, and the man had a question. Earlier he’d spotted a small, bright yellow
bird with some black markings. He wanted to know its name.
The gentleman was visiting from India, so many of our local
birds were unfamiliar. He seemed fairly
impressed by our avian attractions, especially that little yellow one.
It was an American goldfinch, a male, I told him. As we
talked, several red-winged blackbirds moved closer, as if to say, “Hey, we’re
worth a look too!” No argument there. In
fact, the man had been watching them when I first approached.
But my brief conversation that day started me thinking about
goldfinches. Imagine seeing one for the first time—as an adult!
Most of us grew up with goldfinches so we’ve likely forgotten
the thrill of that first sighting. Now they are just part of the landscape and
we tend to take them for granted. The
species is found coast-to-coast in the United States and is the official state
bird of Iowa, New Jersey and Washington.
Like the cardinal, our own state bird, the American
goldfinch possesses that rare combination of being really common and really colorful.
A male can grab the attention of anyone,
birder or not. To some it’s a “wild canary.” Others might assume it escaped
from the local pet shop.
David Allen Sibley was no fool when he chose a goldfinch for
the front and back covers of his Eastern field guide. It adds to the book’s
mass appeal. The handy “Birds of Chicago” also has a goldfinch cover. It shows
a male and female, which is appropriate because goldfinches are almost always
seen in pairs or small groups.
Accessibility is part of the bird’s charm. It prefers weedy
fields and brushy roadsides but is readily attracted to backyard thistle
(nyger) feeders. Black-oil sunflower seeds are popular with goldfinches, too.
Goldfinches are not especially skittish so we can watch and
listen to them up close. In May I had the double pleasure of watching goldfinches
share our thistle feeder with pine siskins, a fellow member of the finch family.
I was curious about how long the three siskins
would hang around, since they are normally off to their northern breeding
grounds by March or April. As of May 26 they were still visiting my yard, a
routine that began in early February!
Many other birders in the Chicago area reported pine siskins
in May as well. It seems probable that the
species is now nesting in the Chicago region at least on a small scale.
Goldfinches can be observed here throughout the year. They are migratory, however, so the birds we
see in winter are not necessarily the ones we admired during the summer. (This
is true of our wintering robins, too.) Winter
goldfinches very likely moved to this area from points north.
In fall and winter, goldfinches are inconspicuous, appearing
dull and brownish. But in early spring, an amazing transformation takes place. The males start to show patches of yellow as
their breeding plumage develops. They
also gain their jet-black forehead feathers.
Females turn greenish-yellow. For both sexes, bill color changes to
orange.
One more cool fact: Goldfinch parents delay raising families
until June or July so that seed crops are plentiful when it’s time to feed the
young. Two broods are common despite their
late start to nesting.
For armchair birders, the American goldfinch will always be
a favorite backyard visitor. Thistle
seed is pricey but it’s worth every penny to lure these brilliant yellow comets
to our gardens, decks and patios.
Copyright 2013 by Jeff Reiter. All rights reserved.