American goldfinches are small, lemon-colored birds that often take new birders by surprised. It’s hard to believe a bird so beautiful is a native North American songbird. But beyond their vibrant yellow color, there are a lot of surprising reasons to love American Goldfinches.
American goldfinches are immediately loved for their bold yellow color. But master birders also love them because they eat plants we typically hate (thistle, dandelion, and sweet gumballs). Their acrobatic feeding style is incredible to watch and photograph. And goldfinches tell us about the health of the environment.
In this article, we will highlight some facts about American goldfinches that have made bird lovers absolutely fall in love with them.
1. Vibrant yellow color
Of course, to start, a male goldfinch’s striking yellow color is one of the most immediate reasons bird lovers fixate on these birds. They are one of America’s most vibrant and beautiful birds. And upon first seeing one, people are pretty stunned.
Outside of a cardinal, seeing a goldfinch for the first time often blows people away – so long as you’re viewing him in the late spring or summertime.
Something important to note about goldfinches though, is that they molt twice a year, and their fall molt makes them look pretty drab. By late fall and winter, they’re almost brown and black, blending in with a lot of other common birds.
A lot of people assume they migrate because it seems like we just don’t see them anymore. When the reality is, they’ve shed their incredible breeding plumage, sporting a dull color in the winter.
2. American goldfinches signal the coming of spring
Lots of birds signal to us that spring is just around the corner by starting their early morning chorus. American goldfinches sing, and sing cheerfully. But the way they signal the coming of spring is through the reemergence of their vibrant colors.
Come March and April (this also depends on your region), goldfinches start showing hints of yellow in their plumage. And to birders, this means that spring is upon us. As the season progresses, goldfinches get brighter and brighter – a signal of more warmth, spring colors, and lots more sunshine.
By May and June, a male goldfinch is back to his ripe, golden self. And, while the females are not as vibrant, they also start to look pretty incredible.
3. Goldfinches make great use of plants we hate…
Dandelions, prickly thistle, and sweetgum gumballs (ankle-breakers) are things most of us feel are nuisances. Dandelions get pretty out of control sometimes. Thistle has a pretty purple flower, that seems delicate and fluffy, until you try pick one and are pricked all over by all the spines on the stem. And then sweetgum gumballs litter sidewalks and have caused numerous rolled ankles.
But goldfinches make great use of these things. They eat seeds and hiding bugs out of sweetgum gumballs. They eat the seeds from dandelion – and with them blooming earlier, a dandelion can be a lifesaving plant for goldfinches. And American goldfinches eat seeds from thistle flowers and use the fluff to built their nests.
As much as we may not love these plants, it’s suddenly a silver lining to know that our beloved goldfinches frequently rely on them. And knowing this can give use a slightly new appreciation for these plants… or at least soften our mood towards them.
Aside from those three plants, goldfinches dine on what we would consider weeds. Seed-heads of many kind are fair game to goldfinches, including what we would sometimes see as weeds.
In fact, not everything that looks like a weed is a weed. Many of the plants goldfinches flock to, especially during the wintertime are native plants that are vital to our ecosystem. Once again, these little gems can open our eyes to the various connections plants and animals have with each other within a local ecosystem.
4. Goldfinches are acrobatic – and it’s really fun to watch
If you spend time watching American goldfinches, especially in the wild, you will discover this amazing characteristic about them – they’re little acrobats. They will regularly hang upside down off tiny, dried out seed heads in order to feast. And this isn’t something they do here and there – it becomes pretty common, especially in the wintertime.
It’s not just seed heads, grass seed, gumballs, sycamore balls, whatever it is, they will hang in any direction needed in order to eat.
In fact, bird feeding manufacturers have used this quality to design the upside down finch feeders. Because goldfinches are extremely comfortable hanging upside down to eat, while other birds aren’t, this can be used as a way of excluding pest birds like the invasive house sparrow.
By putting the feeding port underneath the perch, a bird is forced to hang upside down in order to eat from this type of feeder. Now, house sparrows, house finches and Eurasian tree sparrows will use these feeders. But they aren’t nearly as skilled to hang for long periods. Not like the goldfinch.
We’ve tested two of these feeders – the Woodlink brand and the Perky Pets brand. And both are great feeders to use – though we’d say the Woodlink brand is a bit better quality.
Tails Up – Upside Down Goldfinch Tube Feeder – Reduces House Sparrow Attraction
The Tails-up upside down goldfinch tube feeder uses a goldfinch’s natural ability to eat upside down as a way to exclude nuisance birds like the invasive house sparrow. With this goldfinch feeder, you can let your goldfinches eat with more peace because house sparrows are less likely to hoard your feeder and run them and other native birds off from your yard. This genius design takes advantage of what goldfinches already do in the wild.
5. Goldfinches are an environmental indicator
Because American goldfinches are a bird that has a huge reliance on seed-producing plants, especially native plants, their abundance or lack of abundance can reflect the quality of an ecosystem.
The reason goldfinches are an indicator about the health of a local ecosystem has to do with their dependence on native plants, not just for food but also for nest building, nest sites and habitat. They are also sensitive to habitat degradation. As goldfinches lose habitat, they will look for other places to live.
Something to think about is the concept of habitat fragmentation where larger pieces of habitat begins to shrink or become small and patchy due to development.
Goldfinches are drawn to landscapes with good, sustainable gardening practices that avoid pesticides and contain pollinator-friendly plants. Allowing certain “weeds” like dandelion to grow, at least in some spaces of your yard, will increase goldfinch visits.
Goldfinches also play an important role in native seed dispersal. By eating and dropping certain seeds in other places, they help replenish the natural flora of different habitats, which is vital to thriving ecosystems.
In fact, in this video, we discuss the important seed-dispersing role birds play along with how their droppings indicates the depth of dispersal and what type of birds are more efficient at dropping certain seeds than others.
Finally, goldfinches drink water from all sorts of places, including puddles and bird baths. If a water source is polluted, you’re not going to see as many goldfinches. However, if it’s kept clean and fresh, and found in a good habitat, you’ll see plenty of goldfinches drinking.
What this means for all of us is that aside from putting out finch feeders and attracting finches that way, if we’re seeing them make greater use of our backyards, eating from our native flowers, nesting in our trees and bathing and drinking from our bird baths, then we are doing something right with our backyard birding!
Get The Goldfinch Feeding Care Booklet – Free…
You love your goldfinches. And you want to try to be a really good steward of them. But how often are you supposed to change the feeder? How long does a bag of seed stay fresh? How important is cleaning my feeders anyway?
This beautiful, photographic booklet is easy to digest and takes you through the important basics of feeding and caring for your goldfinches.
- Learn about feeder types
- Seed type and seed longevity
- When to clean and sanitize feeders
- What plants attract goldfinches and more
Quick peak inside:
