American Goldfinches are Breeding

I am noticing fewer female American Goldfinches at my nyjer (thistle) feeder at the moment. Being one of our last birds to nest they are now sitting on eggs. Their diet is almost exclusively seeds, even during the period that they feed their offspring. The timing of their late-season nesting coincides with the peak flowering of their favorite food – the seeds of annual, composite flowers, in particular thistles. This small, bright yellow bird with black wings, cap and tail and orange bill, gets its brightly-colored plumage from carotenoid pigments acquired from their diet.

The scientific name for the American Goldfinch, Carduelis tristis, comes from the Latin for thistle, carduus, its favorite food, and tristis, meaning sad, in recognition of its high-pitched call, one of Linnaeus’ dubious interpretations!

Goldfinches are rarely victims of Brown-headed Cowbirds. This is partly due to their late breeding cycle which begins at the end of the cowbird’s cycle, and also because goldfinches are granivorous, eating almost exclusively seeds. There have been very few records of goldfinches raising cowbirds, because their diet contains so few insects, which cowbirds require for sustenance.