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Summer Beauty
Written By: William McReynolds - Highlands Plateau Audubon Society | Issue: August 2024
The jaunty male American Goldfinch is a lemon-yellow exclamation point darting through the Plateau’s forests and meadows.
Male American Goldfinch in Summer Plumage
You can’t miss the summer beauty of this avian resident of the Highlands Plateau.
The male American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis) transforms itself in spring into the yellow and black delight you see above. Goldfinch molt twice a year, once in the fall and again in spring.
The male’s lemon-yellow body plumage of summer contrasts with black wings and tail feathers to give it a canary-like appearance. Note the jaunty black cap the male sports. The female is a more modest olive green with yellow appointments.
Goldfinches live in flocks and colonies and forage in small flocks or “charms” of goldfinch. Easily recognized in flight, their wing beats alternate with coasting to produce a flight pattern that is wavelike, an undulating scallop.
These are seed eaters that have beaks well suited to opening seedpods. They mob birdfeeders offering black oil sunflower seeds. They also eat insects, the sushi of the forest.
Some are short-range migrants, ranging widely in North America. In the summer breeding season, they are found coast to coast from western Canada and California, east to North Carolina, and in the winter in the southern U.S. into Mexico. Their favorite habitat is weedy fields and meadows and open areas in woodlands including transitional woodlands with both old and new growth.
Their pair bonds are monogamous and lasting. A pair raises broods together year after year. At night the female emits a small sound to guide the male back to the nest.
Goldfinch breed in late summer when seeds are plentiful. The female builds the nest with the male bringing her nesting materials. The nest will contain 4 to 6 peanut-sized, blueish white eggs. The female incubates the eggs, the male bringing her food, for about two weeks. The mother feeds her hatchlings regurgitated seeds. Their first plumage is complete enough in two weeks for fledging to begin. The male feeds the young fledges after they have left the nest.
Happy August bird watching from the Highlands Plateau Audubon Society. Look for these yellow flashes midlevel in the woodlands and in flight.
The mission of the Highlands Plateau Audubon Society is to provide opportunities to enjoy and learn about birds and other wildlife and to promote conservation and restoration of the habitats that support them. HPAS is a 501 (c) (3) organization, a Chapter of the National Audubon Society.
Visit highlandsaudubonsociety.org for information on membership and all activities.
