Home › Birds A–Z › American Goldfinch

In summer the male is canary-yellow with a black cap and wings — a tiny, bouncy seed-eater.

How to spot it

A small finch about 11–13 cm. In summer the male is bright canary-yellow with a black cap and black-and-white wings; females and winter birds are a soft olive-buff. The bill is short and conical.

Where it lives

Widespread across North America in weedy fields, gardens, roadsides and open woodland edges. It gathers at feeders in cheerful flocks, especially for nyjer and sunflower seed.

What it eats

Almost entirely seeds — thistle, sunflower and other daisies — which it works out with its neat bill. Even the nestlings are raised largely on regurgitated seed.

Song & behaviour

A twittering, canary-like song and a bouncy, undulating flight, over which it calls a cheery "po-ta-to-chip".

Nesting

It nests unusually late, in July and August, timing its brood to the summer flush of thistle and milkweed down that lines the cup.

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