Nature Journal: Goldfinches soar with the grace of ballet dancers
Sometimes goldfinches one by one will drop
From low hung branches … perhaps, to show
Their black, and golden wings…
The Keats poem from which these lines are excerpted isn’t one of his best. But he nailed the part about “goldfinches one by one will drop / From low hung branches.”
That’s exactly what goldfinches do. They quite literally “drop” from perches one after another like a parachute team exiting an airplane in designated sequence. And then they sail away in undulating patterns often compared to those made by a roller-coaster.
Such flight patterns are no doubt predator defense strategies. But they are also airborne movements executed with the grace of a ballet dancer.
Goldfinches provide colorful bursts of activity during the muggy dog days when most everything else in the birding world has become subdued.
But why are the goldfinches so golden this year? That's a rhetorical question. I don't know the answer. They began showing bright colors in May that has only intensified. Color shifts of this sort are usually attributed to diet.
When other birds have started to molt and become a bit bedraggled in the process, the male goldfinch, with his brilliant lemon-yellow body and jet-black forehead, is just coming into his own. And the “wild canary” isn't timid about displaying his gaudy attire for all to see. Listen for his breeding-season flight song, which is a breezy "per-chic-o-ree.”
The female is colorful, too, but she isn’t as bright yellow as the male and doesn’t display a black patch on her forehead.
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They nest so late because the seeds of plants like mullein, goldenrod, evening primrose, chicory, dandelion, thistle, etc., that provide food for their young are just now becoming available. A common sight this time of year is a goldfinch literally attacking a thistle-head, creating a downy air-borne flurry of seed tassels.
The species entry in the online “Birds of America” (a subscription site sponsored by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the American Ornithologists’ Union) provides some basic information:
“This goldfinch’s nesting season is a short one,” the entry reads. “In the East, the last eggs are laid in mid-August. As a result, most pairs have time to produce only one brood in a season, although experienced breeders frequently produce two broods if eggs are laid early and the first brood is successful...
"Recent interest in this species has centered on the control and function of its striking yellow plumage and orange beak coloration. These colors are derived from carotenoid pigments, which birds and all other vertebrates acquire from their diet. Females prefer to mate with males that exhibit the brightest colors and thus may acquire the most skilled foragers in doing so.”
Male goldfinches are graceful, colorful and sociable. During the breeding season, when not engaged in food gathering, he will pause to visit other males in the neighborhood just to see how things are going in their extended family groups.
George Ellison is an award-winning naturalist and writer. His wife, Elizabeth Ellison, is a watercolor artist and paper-maker who has a gallery-studio in Bryson City. Contact them at firstname.lastname@example.org or email@example.com or write to P.O. Box 1262, Bryson City, NC 28713.