Winter appearance: The American goldfinch is a small bird about 4.5″ long. In fall, goldfinches molt their bright yellow feathers revealing a dingy brown body, duller yellow head, and thicker white stripes on their wings for winter. Females are similar to males except their wings have more white tips
Winter diet: Seeds they can glean from seed-bearing flowers (weeds, grasses) that are still standing and (dormant) insects.
Winter feeder food: Thistle seed (Nyjer)
Winter habitat: They’re a common bird in winter throughout the contiguous US. You can find them in weedy fields, roadsides, orchards, and backyards.
Winter range: American goldfinches are partial migrators. While many of them spend all four seasons of the year in their year-round range (Washington, Idaho, Oregon, Montana, Wyoming, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and the remaining US states to the east and south (except Florida) when winter rolls around many expand west and south (western Oregon, California, southern Nevada & Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, southern Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, and Florida).
Range Map
