You can tell that they’re siskins and not female House Finches, by the yellow wing bar.  I also know when they’re around because of the sound they make.  The middle of the track in this link includes a very distinctive call they make.  Here’s a female House Finch for comparison:

We saw a ton of Pine Siskins in Arizona.  They really like the nyger seed that the goldfinches also go crazy for.

Even better, this summer I saw baby Pine Siskins in Heber City.

I love seeing babies.

She really enjoyed those berries.

Some people only want to find rare birds and I do get excited by finding new birds, but I can also appreciate an opportunity to take nice photographs.

The males tricked me into thinking I had a Purple Finch in the backyard.  Look at how red he is!

They say that you have a Purple Finch if he looks like he was splashed with cranberry juice.  This guy is red, but still not as red as a Purple Finch.  Plus, Purple Finches have only been in Utah as an accidental jump off their normal path.  Now compare the finch above with this guy who is also a House Finch.  Are they really the same species?

They are very frequent visitors to the backyard, so I get to hear a lot of songs.

They’re not very scared of me.  Sometimes they stay on the trellis while I change the seed.

I like them better than the House Sparrows.

You can tell the difference between the American and Lesser Goldfinches because the Lesser Goldfinches aren’t as bright yellow and their black caps are larger.

Here’s a non-breeding male American Goldfinch from South Carolina (the breeding males have black caps):

He appears to be transitioning to winter plumage.  You can’t exactly tell in this picture, but the male American Goldfinches winter plumage includes a yellow shoulder patch.  As you can see in the top pictures, goldfinches have a more mottled color in the winter.  The goldfinches in Utah are in a further state of transitioning.  I took the picture below on November 13, a few weeks before the picture taken above:

In this picture you can tell that it’s a female American Goldfinch because of the absence of the yellow shoulder patch.  The transition looks pretty complete until you see the front.  Sorry for the blurriness of the picture but it was so exciting to see the goldfinch with a male and female House Finch that I didn’t want to risk opening the door.  Good thing, too, because once I opened the door they were gone.

So I’d been trying to get goldfinches to come to my feeders for almost a year.  I put out thistle seed, I bought one of the socks like the one you see in the pictures above.  Nothing!  Finally I put out some seed that mixes fat bits with thistle and they came!  It’s really key to have that seed mix because I had leftover cockatiel mix and I haven’t seen a finch since I used them.

Unfortunately, everyone else knows how pretty it is.  Salt Lake City has always been so great compared to Silicon Valley because it’s not crowded.  You never have to wait for a table at a restaurant here.  Even going to Jazz games isn’t that big a deal.  But the Utah people are into outdoor activities.  So if you need to find a Utah resident, now I know where to look.  People were everywhere!!!

And you know what’s bad for birding?  It’s kids in strollers, teenagers on cellphones and giant families walking on boardwalks.  If I had more time I would have taken a hike to Twin Lakes, which would have had fewer people given that you can’t take a stroller up a mountain.  But I did see a new bird: the Pine Siskin.

I am very proud because I identified them based on their sound!  I actually remembered something from the Stokes cds.  You see, the front of a Pine Siskin is striped, just like tons of other small birds.  Like this Song Sparrow:

The best way to identify Pine Siskins is from the side because the tips of their wings and tailfeathers are yellow.

Other than Pine Siskins there were only chickadees and mallards, and this was a lovely shot of a female Mallard Duck.

The drive up was also really nice because the leaves have started to change.  It’s been four years since I lived in a place with a real fall.  I’m so excited!

I love this picture because of the cowlick.

Male House Finches have bright-red breasts.

Females have the same brown stripes, but no red.

Many people are not excited by House Finches because they’re so common, but they have such lovely songs and they’re such photogenic birds.  In California, I took some of the best pictures ever and the pictures were of House Finches.

These males have some yellow in their crown.  I’m not sure if this is a regional variation or a fluke.  Or perhaps they all have this but I don’t have enough close-up pictures.

I leave you with an action shot:

It’s not the best picture but you can almost make out his black cap. A better picture can be found here. I’ll get better pictures of their breeding plumage next spring.

The American Goldfinch’s winter plumage is quite different: 

Oh, wait. That’s a cockatiel! Conner’s picture pops up everywhere. Let’s try again.

The bird is almost brown. Lesser Goldfinches are not a bright yellow, but they retain more yellow in their winter plumage.

This beautiful guy was greatly enjoying food in Golden Gate Park.

There was a whole crowd eating from the flowers. Other people are reporting that the goldfinches are happy that the sunflower seeds have finally ripened in their gardens.

 

You know how you won’t see a bird for three or four months and then they appear everywhere? There were also goldfinches eating away in Hayward.

It’s funny to see winter plumage for birds when the weather remains the same year round. I suppose the laydeez are impressed in the spring, though, when males grow bright yellow feathers and a fancy black cap.