Nature Bulletin No. 461-A   September 9, 1972
Forest Preserve District of Cook County
George W. Dunne, President
Roland F. Eisenbeis, Supt. of Conservation

****:THE GOLDFINCH

One of the most conspicuous songbirds is the Goldfinch, often called 
Wild Canary because the male, except for his black forehead, wings and 
tail, is bright lemon yellow and has such a sweet ecstatic song. It is a 
bird of the open places and so fond of companionship that, except while 
nesting, they are usually seen in flocks and, like robins, have little fear 
of people. With their bouncing flight, they seem as light-hearted and 
gay as butterflies.

The goldfinch belongs to the largest family of birds which includes the 
cardinals, towhees, grosbeaks, buntings, our native sparrows, and other 
finches. All of them have short stout cone-shaped bills and are primarily 
seed eaters. In spring the goldfinch eats the seeds of last year's weeds, 
the tender buds of trees and shrubs, and many small insects. In summer 
and fall, when the fields are crowded with dandelions, thistles, asters, 
goldenrod and many pestiferous foreign weeds -- all composites -- it 
feeds mostly on seeds.

Of all our birds, except for those that raise a second brood in summer, 
the goldfinch is the last to nest and raise a family. Very few nests are 
started before July and the number being built, or containing eggs or 
young, reaches its peak about the middle of August. The compact cup-
shaped nest is constructed of the silky fibers of milkweeds and fine 
grasses or strips of bark from weeds, and usually lined with thistledown. 
Because of this habit and its fondness for the seeds of thistles, the 
goldfinch has been given another common name: Thistle Bird. 
However, those that nest unusually early may use the down from 
cottonwood, willow, cattails, dandelions, or other plants.

Goldfinches will nest in a wide variety of shrubs and small trees, if they 
are growing in the open sunlight, but seldom more than 8 or 10 feet 
above the ground. In August they frequently build in the crotches of tall 
sturdy weeds such as the bull thistle, Joe Pye Weed, wild lettuce and 
even golden rod.

The female usually lays four, five or six bluish white eggs and, until 
they hatch, she is fed by the male who ejects partially digested seeds 
from his crop. The nestlings are fed by both parents in the same 
manner, and it seems likely that the abundance of suitable seeds in July 
and August is responsible for the late nesting habit of this songster. 

During the courtship and before the nest is started, the male goldfinch 
has a canary-like song, difficult to describe, which he warbles from the 
top of some tree. During the nesting period it is also sung during a 
hovering hesitant night near the nest. When swinging along on his 
typical undulating flight, his song sounds like "per-chic-o-ree. "

The goldfinch is common from ocean to ocean and as far north as 
Newfoundland, Quebec and British Columbia. In autumn the males, 
except for their black wings and bright yellow shoulder patches, 
become a uniform olive-brown like the females and the goldfinches 
migrate in large flocks to the Gulf Coast states or Mexico. They are not 
uncommon here in winter. The principal spring migration occurs 
between the last of April and the last of May.

This is the state bird of New Jersey, Iowa, Minnesota and Washington.