3/25/18 yellow diner at our feeder |
Now
that some spring migrators are in town, we’ve occasionally seen new birds at
our feeder. Recently this bright yellow fellow was dining leisurely enough that
I could capture him. With that hue, I thought it could be an American goldfinch (our state bird, though
I rarely see it), but the one I saw and sketched did not have a black head. The
black markings on his wings formed a chevron in the same way that they do on a
pine siskin. In fact, I’ve sketched a male pine siskin with some yellow, but I’ve never seen one this bright. I couldn’t
find anything quite like it in my bird ID books.
Anyone
know?
Edited 3/27/18: ID’d by Alex MacKenzie as a female American goldfinch!
Edited 3/27/18: ID’d by Alex MacKenzie as a female American goldfinch!
Maybe a tanager? I have seen one passing through at this time of year occasionally. Bright yellow and no black cap, but I am not sure about the wing markings.
ReplyDeleteI looked that up too, but I think Alex is right -- female goldfinch.
Delete- Tina
The tanager would have black all the way up the back. They're also bigger than a finch if you have any other birds to compare size to.
DeleteI love goldfinches and used to see a lot of them when I had my feeders up, lovely birds and of course, the American Goldfinch is our State bird!
Alex, I think you're right! My book shows only the male (of course ;-) ). Thanks!
ReplyDelete