American Goldfinch

• GeneralIt breeds very late, in July, to make use of the thistledown it lines its nest with.
• It shares a genus with the Eurasian siskin (Spinus spinus), already in this catalogue: both moved from Carduelis to Spinus in the same revision.
• It is one of the most popular feeder birds in North America.
• Its epithet tristis means "sad" in Latin, a name hardly in keeping with its bright yellow plumage.
• It breeds in July and August, months later than the rest of North America's birds, because it waits for the thistles to seed and release the down with which it lines the nest.
• Its strictly seed-eating diet protects it from the brown-headed cowbird: that parasite's chicks cannot survive on a diet of seeds and die within a few days, so the goldfinch has no need to defend itself against brood parasitism.
• The male moults to a dull olive brown in autumn and regains the intense yellow in spring: it is one of the few North American finches with a complete moult twice a year.

Skeleton type

Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (bird)

Habitat and environment

Thistle fields, roadsides, scrub, gardens and feeders of North America

Sexual maturity

11.9 months

Gestation / incubation

13 days

Litter / clutch size

5

Sources consulted: IUCN Red List · NPSpecies (National Park Service, EE. UU.) · Animalia.bio · Linnaeus 1758

Best time: Spring and summer, when the male is in his deep yellow plumage