Goldfinch guys put on the glitz to attract the gals

The American goldfinch (Spinus tristris) is one of the most colorful and easiest birds to observe in local meadows and at backyard feeders. This widespread finch has an estimated population of 43 million and is found well into Canada in summer, through most of the United States, and into Mexico in winter.

The male “American canary,” as it’s sometimes called, is easy to spot in spring and early summer with its bright yellow plumage, black forehead and black wings with white accents. He is far less conspicuous the rest of the year.

Goldfinches have two yearly molts, the only member of the finch family to do so. They undergo a complete molt of all their feathers in early fall, the male’s body transitioning from bright yellow to a drab yellowish-brown. The black forehead disappears, and their wings go from nearly all black to black with white accents.

In the spring, they undergo a partial molt, replacing only their head and body feathers, which become bright yellow again. It’s less dramatic for females, which brighten somewhat in breeding season but look like the winter male.

Goldfinches are among the last birds to start nesting. They often begin as late as early August, when more seeds, especially those in the aster family, become available, along with the fluffy down from thistles. Unlike most songbirds, which eat insects in warm months to increase their protein intake for breeding and nesting, goldfinches are almost entirely granivores. They may eat a few insects (and berries and buds when available), but they are principally seed eaters.

This seed diet has some benefits. One is that brood parasitism by cowbirds — which lay their eggs in other birds’ nests to be raised — rarely succeeds with goldfinches. Cowbird chicks need insect protein that the adoptive goldfinch parents don’t provide, so they do not survive.

It also means that many goldfinches may alter where they stay due to the readily available seeds that are placed out in bird feeders, usually preferring Nyjer (often called thistle) seed and hulled sunflowers.

American goldfinch nests are often found in edge habitat — trees at the edges of fields and meadows — and often near water. They are usually 4–20 feet off the ground in a forked branch and occur in small, loose colonies of two or three breeding pairs.

The nests are extremely well-made, employing a combination of seed down, rootlets and spider webbing so tightly bound that they often hold water. This has led to cases where the young have drowned. The female almost always builds the nest, though the male may deliver materials.

During nest building, the male often deviates from the birds’ typical looping, undulating flight. Instead, it dives repeatedly near the nest, pausing occasionally between dives to circle evenly overhead, with no dips or loops.

The female lays three to seven bluish-white eggs. She will stay on the nest 95% of the time, relying on her mate to feed her, until the eggs hatch 12–14 days later.

The young fledge 11–15 days after hatching. At first, the young produce fecal sacs of their waste, which the parents remove from the nest. By the second week, they have learned to poop over the edge, often leaving a distinctive rim of waste around the nest.

While the mating pair will stick together for the nesting season, they may change partners from year to year.

American goldfinches have several calls and songs, one of them sounding a bit mournful — at least to the scientist who gave the bird the second half of its Latin name, tristis, which means “sad.” They are best known, though, for their “po-TAY-to-chip” call often made during their undulating flights.

The Haudenosaunee (who some people call the Iroquois) Confederacy has an interesting legend, passed on to this day, that explains how goldfinches got their beautiful color. Long ago, they say, all goldfinches were drab gray. The birds wanted to be more colorful, and they got their chance after an act of selfless kindness.

The birds came across a fox that had fallen asleep under a pine tree, which dripped sap onto its eyes, sealing them shut. He begged the goldfinches for help to see again, the story goes, and they took turns pecking the sap away. The fox was so grateful for getting his sight back that he offered to make them colorful, which he did with paint he made from yellow flowers. The more he painted them, the more they started to flutter and sing.

Goldfinches may form mixed flocks with other species, such as pine siskins and redpolls, sometimes up to 300 birds. They are not long-distance migrators like some songbirds, moving only as far north or south as necessary for the season — or staying put year-round if the weather permits, as it generally does in the southern half of their range.

The American goldfinch is the state bird in Washington, Iowa and New Jersey.

If everything goes well, goldfinches can live for more than 10 years. The record for one bird banded and recovered in Maryland is 10 years and 9 months.

These beautiful birds are easy to attract to bird feeders and will dazzle you with their acrobatic displays if you plant species that feed them, such as sunflowers, coneflowers and rudbeckias.

If the legend of their selfless kindness is true, we can show them the same by what we plant and feed to them.

Alonso Abugattas, a storyteller and blogger known as the Capital Naturalist on social media, is natural resources manager for Arlington County (VA) Parks and Recreation. He is filling in this month for regular On the Wing columnist Mike Burke.