The goldfinch stays in Iowa all winter but they do show up when they discover some free thistle seed. I first saw one of them on the deck and it looked small compared to some of the other birds out there. I then looked again a few minutes later and a pair of them are on the sock.
They turn a brownish color for the winter and you can see the bright yellow color is coming on with new feathers in the above photo. The bottom bird may be the female goldfinch. After checking at three different web sites, I did find the explanation of the difference in color of the male and female birds. A college site shared that the female does get yellow on it but not to any degree as the male gets totally yellow with black wings. During the winter both are green brown. In my photo you can see the female at the bottom of the feeder. The female will be yellow on its side and partial head but will keep a brown green coat on its back and neck.
It is so exciting to see them coming back to the feeder.
2 comments:
You caught him with a seed in his beak! I do find that they both look more alike in the spring and summer. They are awesome little birds!
Very interesting. We've had them coming to our regular bird feeders all winter. I'm guessing part of that is because my husband was putting some thistle seed in with the sunflower seeds. We have wondered how we could tell the difference between the male and female...thank you for the information. I will soon be putting out the sock feeder.
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