Measurements
Both Sexes
Other Names
- Chardonneret mineur (French)
- Jilguero dominico (Spanish)
Cool Facts
- Male Lesser Goldfinches in the most eastern part of their range in the United States tend to have black backs and napes. Those found to the westward have green backs and only a black cap. The amount of black varies throughout the range, with many birds having partly-green backs. The amount of black shown by males can vary within a given locality too. South of central Mexico, all of the males are black-backed.
Habitat
Open Woodland
The Lesser Goldfinch is particularly adaptable when it comes to habitats, and makes its home in a diverse range of patchy open habitats. From the western United States to northern and western South America, this songbird frequents thickets, weedy fields, woodlands, forest clearings, scrublands, farmlands, and even desert oases, as well as parks and gardens in both suburban and urban settings.
Food
Seeds
The Lesser Goldfinch primarily feeds in small groups, moving through low weeds and other plants that it encounters in order to get to the seeds, buds, flowers or fruits. In its pursuit of this vegetable matter, the Lesser Goldfinch sometimes hangs upside down to harvest the food. It will occasionally supplement its diet with insects such as plant lice.
Nesting
Nesting Facts
- Clutch Size
- 3–6 eggs
- Number of Broods
- 1 broods
- Egg Length
- 0.6–0.6 in
1.5–1.6 cm - Egg Width
- 0.4–0.5 in
1.1–1.3 cm - Incubation Period
- 12–13 days
- Nestling Period
- 12–14 days
- Egg Description
- Pale blue-white and unmarked.
- Condition at Hatching
- Helpless.
Nest Description
The female, which builds most of the nest without help from the male, begins by collecting plant materials with her beak. The materials can include leaves, bark, catkins, yucca fibers, cocoons and spiderwebs. Sometimes she strips branches of their fibers, holding them with her feet. Once the substances are woven together, she lines the nest with hair, feathers, wool, rabbit fur, or cottonseed fibers to complete a dense, cup-like structure.
Nest Placement
Tree
The Lesser Goldfinch makes its nest in a variety of different trees and bushes, from pine to cottonwood to fruit trees such as apricot. The female chooses the site after searching for an appropriate forked branch. The chosen site is often situated between 3–5 branches, and is sheltered by lichen, leaves, or grapevines, which help to shade the nest from bright sunlight.
Behavior
Foliage Gleaner
Lesser Goldfinches are social, often gregarious birds that form flocks and forage together during any season. Water sites can attract large congregations. They only defend territories near their nests, but when defending these territories they fiercely beat each other with their wings and peck each other’s heads. Pairs are monogamous, and the male feeds the female when she is incubating eggs.
Conservation
Least Concern
Lesser Goldfinches do well in suburban habitats, so human expansion probably has helped this species to some degree. Its population appears to be stable over the last several decades. Threats include loss of riparian habitat and, in Central American parts of its range, being caught for the cage bird trade.
Credits
- Watt, D. J., and E. J. Willoughby. 1999. Lesser Goldfinch (Carduelis psaltria). In The Birds of North America, No. 392 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA.