The curtains are open and there are some bird feeders just outside the window so that Beaker can watch and talk with his fellow bird friends. This morning we watched a pair (male and female) of American Goldfinch birds. Very cute.



American Goldfinch (Carduelis tristis)

Description : 4 1/2-5" (11-13 cm). Smaller than a sparrow. Breeding male bright yellow with white rump, black forehead, white edges on black wings and tail, and yellow at bend of wing. Female and winter male duller and grayer, with black wings, tail, and white wing bars. Travels in flocks; undulating flight.

Voice : Bright per-chick-o-ree, also rendered as potato-chips, delivered in flight and coinciding with each undulation.

Habitat : Brushy thickets, weedy grasslands, and nearby trees.

Nesting : 4 or 5 pale blue eggs in a well-made cup of grass, bark strips, and plant down placed in the upright fork of a small sapling or shrub.

Range : Breeds from southern British Columbia east to Newfoundland, and south to California, Utah, southern Colorado, central Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Carolinas. Winters in much of United States.

This familiar and common species is often called the "Wild Canary." Since the birds' main food is seeds, nesting does not begin until midsummer or late summer, when weed seeds are available. Thus goldfinches remain in flocks until well past the time when other species have formed pairs and are nesting. Because they nest so late, only a single brood is raised each season. In the winter they gather in large flocks, often with other finches such as redpolls and Pine Siskins.

Tags: Bird, Goldfinch