Scientific Name:   Spinus tristis

Length:   11–14 cm (4.3–5.5 in)

Weight:   19–22 cm (7.5–8.7 in)

Wingspan:   11–20 g (0.39–0.71 oz)

Nest:   Their cup nests, measuring about 3 inches across and 3-4 inches high, are usually lashed among several twigs in a shrub or small tree, and can be positioned from just above the ground to several meters high.

Eggs:   The clutch is four to six bluish-white eggs, which are oval in shape and about the size of a peanut. The eggs are incubated by the female alone, though the male brings her food as she nests, and most mating pairs raise only one brood each year.

Feeding Behavior:   Goldfinches are also strict vegetarians, often weeds, grasses, and trees, such as thistle, teasel, dandelion, ragweed, mullein, cosmos, sunflower, and alder. It also consumes tree buds, maple sap, and berries and will eat at bird feeders provided by humans, particularly in the winter months, preferring Niger seed.

Young:   Both parents feed nestlings. At first male brings food, female gives it to young; then both parents feed; role of female gradually declines, so that male may provide most food in later stages. Young leave nest about 11-17 days after hatching.

Range:   The American goldfinch prefers open country where weeds thrive, such as fields, meadows, flood plains, as well as roadsides, orchards, and gardens. The summer breeding range stretches across North America from coast to coast.

Brief Description:   The beak is small, conical, and pink for most of the year, but turns bright orange with the spring molt in both sexes. The American goldfinch undergoes a molt in the spring and autumn. It is the only cardueline finch to undergo molting twice a year. During the winter molt it sheds all its feathers; in the spring, it sheds all but the wing and tail feathers, which are dark brown in the female and black in the male. Birds often vocalize during the flapping phase of the pattern and then go silent during the coasting phase.