Lesser Goldfinch

The Lesser Goldfinch (Spinus psaltria) is the smallest of the North American goldfinches and is a highly social, colorfully clad visitor to backyard feeders and weedy fields throughout the western United States down to South America. Extremely active and agile, these tiny finches are often seen clinging upside down to seed heads or traveling in small, buzzy flocks. Their plumage is a vibrant mix of bright yellow, black, and olive-green, with notable geographical variation in the coloration of the males' backs across their extensive range.

Key Field Marks

• Size & Shape: An exceptionally small finch with a short, deeply notched tail, a short, conical, sharply pointed bill, and relatively long, pointed wings.
• Adult Male: Features bright yellow underparts from the chin down to the undertail coverts. They possess a solid black cap. Depending on the region, the back is either solid olive-green (the 'green-backed' Pacific morph) or entirely black (the 'black-backed' interior/Mexican morph). Wings are black with prominent white patches at the base of the primaries and white edges on the tertials.
• Adult Female: Duller and more uniform olive-green overall with a yellow wash on the underparts. Females lack the black cap and show thinner, more subtle white wingbars.

Similar Species

• American Goldfinch: Larger and heavier-billed. In breeding plumage, the male American Goldfinch has a bright yellow back (not black or green) and white undertail coverts. In the winter, American Goldfinches fade to a dull brownish-gray, whereas male Lesser Goldfinches retain their yellow underparts and dark backs year-round.
• Lawrence's Goldfinch: Grayer overall, with a distinctive black face patch (rather than just a cap) and bright yellow wingbars and chest patch.

Geographic Range

Lesser Goldfinches range widely across the western United States, starting from southwestern Washington and Oregon, extending through California, eastward to Utah, Colorado, and Texas, and continuing South through Mexico and Central America into northwestern South America.

Habitat Preferences

This bird prefers open, patchy, and scrubby areas over dense, unbroken forests. They are commonly found in:

• Oak woodlands and chaparral
• Weedy fields, pastureland, and desert washes
• Riparian corridors and thickets
• Suburban gardens, orchards, parks, and backyard feeding stations

Migration

Southern populations from California to northern South America are mostly year-round residents. Northernmost breeders—principally those in the Great Basin, Rocky Mountains, and northern interior—are migratory, moving south or downslope to lower elevations for the winter months.

Feeding & Diet

Lesser Goldfinches are almost exclusively granivorous, eating a wide array of weed and wildflower seeds, buds, and occasionally berries. They show a strong preference for seeds from the sunflower family (Asteraceae), particularly wild thistles. Highly agile, they easily hang upside down from seed heads, often using their feet to pull seed capsules closer.

Vocalizations

• Song: A long, rapid, rambling series of sweet whistles, trills, and chatters. They are excellent mimics, frequently weaving perfect imitations of other bird species (such as American Kestrels, Western Bluebirds, and Ash-throated Flycatchers) into their phrasing.
• Calls: Most common is a plaintive, rising, two-syllabled whistle tee-yee or whee, alongside a sharp chut-chut-chut flight call.

Nesting & Breeding

The female constructs a compact, cup-shaped nest in the fork of a tree or shrub, utilizing fine plant fibers, bark strips, and cocoons, and lining the interior with soft plant down or animal hair. She incubates a clutch of 3 to 5 pale, unmarked bluish-white eggs for 12 to 13 days. The male feeds the female on the nest throughout incubation and assists with feeding the nestlings after they hatch.