Length: 12cm
Wingspan: 21-25.5cm
Conservation Status: Green
Description: Goldfinches are easily distinguished by their bright colours and characteristic markings. Goldfinches have a distinctive red face with a white patch behind the eye and a black crown and nape. They have a yellow wing patch, black tails and a long pointed bill. Both adult male and female goldfinches look similar but juveniles have a grey-brown spotted plumage and lack the face markings of the adult bird which they acquire in autumn.
Nesting: Goldfinches will nest in orchards, parks, gardens, villages and other habitats where there are tall, deciduous trees. They construct their cup shaped nests high in trees and bushes using stems, moss and plant wool and will sometimes decorate the outside of their nests with flowers. Goldfinches produce 2 broods of 4-6 reddish patterned eggs which they incubate for 12-13 days.
Feeding: Outside of breeding season goldfinches form nomadic flocks, called ‘charms’ and which are often spotted feeding in fields and on road verges. Goldfinches love seeds, buds, insects, dandelions, burdock and thistles in particular, and use their slender, tweezer like bills for extracting seeds from plants and flowers. They will feed at bird tables in your garden but prefer swinging acrobatically on hanging seed feeders.
Information and image from Garden Bird Supplies
If you want to attract goldfinches to your garden then you may be interested in the following products:
Niger Seed
Goldfinch Flocker
Niger Seed Window Feeder
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