Carduelis tristis

Geographic Range

American goldfinches are native to the Nearctic and widespread across most of North America. Their range extends as far north as Saskatchewan, Quebec and southwest Newfoundland during breeding seasons. They live year-round in middle latitudes of the United States, in the Pacific Northwest, Midwest, and eastern United States. They spend the winters in states farther south, from California to Mexico, along the Gulf Coast, and throughout Florida.

• Biogeographic Regions
• nearctic nearctic
  • native native

Habitat

American goldfinches are widely distributed on the edges of many forests and plains. They prefer weedy fields and floodplains. These habitats include early successional growth areas, cultivated lands, roadsides, orchards, and suburban gardens. They inhabit areas that are overgrown and filled with brush. Areas with high concentrations of thistles, asters, and other deciduous plants often attract them.

• Habitat Regions
• temperate temperate
• terrestrial terrestrial

• Terrestrial Biomes
• savanna or grassland savanna or grassland
• chaparral chaparral
• forest forest
• scrub forest scrub forest

• Other Habitat Features
• suburban suburban
• agricultural agricultural
• riparian riparian

Physical Description

American goldfinches are small finches distinguished by the bright yellow color of males during the breeding season. They have yellow or gold feathers around their throat, upper back, and belly. Their wings, tails, and the tops of their heads are glossy black. A white spot is usually visible above the males' tail after molting and into their summer plumage. Adult females, juveniles, and males in the winter are colored olive brown above, blending to olive yellow below. Their wing feathers are dull brownish-black. American goldfinches weigh 11 to 20 g and have wingspans of 19 to 22 cm. They have sharp and conical pointy beaks used for eating seeds.

• Other Physical Features
• endothermic endothermic
• homoiothermic
• bilateral symmetry bilateral symmetry

• Sexual Dimorphism
• sexes colored or patterned differently
• male more colorful

Reproduction

Pair formation occurs in winter. Males attract mates using not only their bright plumage, but also by showing off to the female through flight routines. Females choose one male to mate with that will stay close to the nest. They are usually monogamous, but sometimes females will mate with more than one male. American goldfinches mate one time per season, but a few reports of 2 clutches per season have also been documented.

• Mating System
• polygynous polygynous

American goldfinches generally begin nesting in late June or early July, later than many closely-related species. They build their nests a few feet off the ground from twigs and branches found in nearby trees and shrubs. Females lay 2 to 7 eggs per clutch. Females incubate the eggs for an average of 15 days while males bring food to the nest and feed females via regurgitation. Newborn American goldfinches are usually naked or have hardly any feathers and weigh an average of 1 g. After the chicks hatch, males take on most of the responsibility for looking after the chicks. Females chase intruders away from the nest, forage, and return to feed the chicks through regurgitation. After 8 days, chicks are technically independent. They can fly in an average of 14 days, but this can be as few as 11 or as many as 17. Even after leaving the nest, chicks tend to return and are dependent on their parents for roughly 3 or 4 additional weeks. They are sexually mature at 11 months.

• Key Reproductive Features
• iteroparous iteroparous
• seasonal breeding seasonal breeding
• gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
• sexual sexual
• oviparous oviparous

Females lay the eggs and incubate them for 2 weeks until hatching. Once the chicks hatch, females leave the nest more frequently and males take care of feeding the chicks. Males defend the territory of their mates by singing different types of defense calls.

• Parental Investment
• altricial altricial
• male parental care male parental care
• female parental care female parental care
• pre-hatching/birth
  • provisioning
    • female
  • protecting
    • male
    • female
• pre-weaning/fledging
  • provisioning
    • male
    • female
  • protecting
    • male
    • female
• pre-independence
  • provisioning
    • male
  • protecting
    • male
    • female

Lifespan/Longevity

American goldfinches can live 7 to 10 years in the wild, but typically live 3 to 6 because of predation. The oldest known individual in the wild lived to be 10 years and 5 months old. Males tend to live longer than females.

Behavior

American goldfinches are diurnal and social and generally found foraging in small groups. Their main mode of locomotion is flying, but they are also capable of hopping or walking. They exhibit the typical undulating flight of finches. They beat their wings a few times, causing them to ascend, followed by a brief descent on closed wings. This flight causes a flock to have a light, buoyant, dancing appearance. In the presence of other American goldfinches, they will often imitate their calls and fluff their feathers. American goldfinches are nomadic, often settling in areas for short periods of time before moving again. They migrate between summer and winter locations throughout most of their range.

• Key Behaviors
• arboreal arboreal
• flies
• diurnal diurnal
• motile motile
• nomadic nomadic
• migratory migratory
• social social

Home Range

Because they are social, American goldfinches are not known to defend a territory. They are more territorial and do nest-guard during the breeding season.

Communication and Perception

American goldfinches primarily communicate with each other by songs and calls. They exhibit 6 different types of calls: contact calls, threat cries, alarm and distress cries, courtship and pre-coition calls, feeding calls, and songs. Contact calls, described as "tsee-tsi-tsi-tsit" or "po-ta-to-chip," are the most common. Their song is also common during the breeding season, and described as "rambling" or "warbling." They make calls both while perched and in flight. After hatching, the adolescent American goldfinches will demonstrate a begging call when they are hungry. When they feel distressed or threatened, they have another distinctive call. They also communicate when attracting mates through their feather coloring and by flying displays.

• Communication Channels
• visual visual
• acoustic acoustic

• Other Communication Modes
• choruses choruses

• Perception Channels
• visual visual
• tactile tactile
• acoustic acoustic
• chemical chemical

Food Habits

American goldfinches are granivores, mainly eating seeds, weeds, and sometimes pine cones. They mainly feed on grass seeds, thistle, and other low-growing herbaceous seeds. They often eat seeds while perched on top of a plant but also do so from the ground. In the winter, when naturally growing food is less prevalent, the birds often rely on feeders in parks or backyards. They occasionally eat insects if encountered.

• Primary Diet
• herbivore herbivore
  • granivore granivore

• Animal Foods
• insects

• Plant Foods
• seeds, grains, and nuts

Predation

Common predators of American goldfinches are blue jays ( Cyanocitta cristata ), eastern garter snakes ( Thamnophis sirtalis ), American kestrels ( Falco sparverius ), and weasels ( Mustela ). Domestic and feral cats ( Felis catus ) also prey on them. They have a defense call, but otherwise are usually non-aggressive towards their predators.

Ecosystem Roles

Because the diet of American goldfinches consists of seeds and nuts, they help in the dispersal of seeds.

Brown-headed cowbirds ( Molothrus ater ) parasitize American goldfinch nests. Parasitism rates of 9.4% were reported in 1979, but no brown-headed cowbirds successfully fledged from American goldfinch nests. Documented internal parasites include avian trichomoniasis ( Trichomonas gallinae ) and a protozoan parasite ( Eimeriidae ) reported to cause intestinal coccidiosis.

• Ecosystem Impact
• disperses seeds

Economic Importance for Humans: Positive

American goldfinches are enjoyed by birdwatchers at their feeders.

Economic Importance for Humans: Negative

There are no known adverse effects of American goldfinches on humans.

Conservation Status

The American goldfinch is protected under the Migratory Bird Act, but its populations are considered stable. The IUCN Red List classifies them as "least concern."

Other Comments

American goldfinches are the state bird of Iowa, New Jersey, and Washington.

Additional Links

Encyclopedia of Life

BioKIDS Critter Catalog

Contributors

Stephanie Nicholas (author), Radford University, Catherine Kent (author), Special Projects, Karen Powers (editor), Radford University, Kiersten Newtoff (editor), Radford University, Melissa Whistleman (editor), Radford University.

References

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