Species: Spinus tristis

American Goldfinch

Species

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Encyclopedia of Puget Sound

Breeding adult male is bright yellow, with black wings, a bold white wing-bar, and a black forehead. Breeding adult female has yellow-brown plumage with dark wings and light wing-bars. Nonbreeding male resembles adult female but has yellow patches on the head and throat and yellow lesser wing coverts. Nonbreeding female has a brownish back, grayish underparts, and buffy wing bars. Both sexes have white undertail coverts. Length: 13 cm, wingspan 23 cm.

Classification

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Craniata

Class

Aves

Order

Passeriformes

Family

Fringillidae

Genus

Spinus

NatureServe

Source:
ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.105854

Classification

Other Global Common Names

Jilguero Canario - chardonneret jaune

Informal Taxonomy

Animals, Vertebrates - Birds - Perching Birds

Formal Taxonomy

Animalia - Craniata - Aves - Passeriformes - Fringillidae - Spinus - belong to different clades.

Ecology and Life History

Migration

true - true - true - Northern populations are migratory, whereas southern breeders are year-round residents. Overall, migrations peak from mid-April to early June and from late October to mid-December; specific timing varies across the large range.

Non-migrant

true

Locally Migrant

true

Food Comments

Feeds on seeds (e.g., birches, alders, conifers, thistles, goldenrod, etc.); eats some berries and insects (Terres 1980). Young fed partly digested, regurgitated seeds.

Reproduction Comments

Nesting occurs relatively late for a songbird. In most areas, egg laying occurs primarily in late June, July, and August, sometimes in May or into September, with a peak in June and July, but some populations in California and Baja California nest from April to early July. Clutch size is 4-6 (usually 5). Incubation lasts 12-14 days. Young leave the nest about 11-17 days after hatching. Young depend on one or both parents for food for about 3 weeks after fledging.<br><br>Brown-headed cowbirds are brood parasites that sometimes lay eggs in American goldfinch nests. However, the cowbird young rarely survive. Probably this is because goldfinches feed mostly seeds to their nestlings, and this diet is inadequate for cowbird development.

Ecology Comments

Except during the breeding season, usually travels and forages in flocks.<br><br>

Length

Weight

Conservation Status

NatureServe Global Status Rank

Global Status Last Reviewed

1996-12-04

Global Status Last Changed

1996-12-04

Other Status

LC - Least concern

Distribution

Conservation Status Map

Global Range

Breeding range extends from southern Canada (southern British Columbia east to southwestern Newfoundland) south to southwestern California and northern Baja California, Arizona, New Mexico, extreme northeastern Texas, northern Louisiana, northern Mississippi, central Alabama, central Georgia, and South Carolina (AOU 1998). Winter range extends from southern Canada and the northern United States south to northern Baja California, northern Sonora, New Mexico, Texas, the U.S. Gulf coast, and southern Florida (AOU 1998). See Prescott and Middleton (1990) for information on age and sex differences in winter distribution in eastern North America.

ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.105854