On a recommendation I looked at Macaulay’s winter photos and saw plenty of variety but no sense of whether the sample is biased for or against molting birds. Then I recalled I own a reference, a bander’s ID guide. For American Goldfinch it says: “Continuous, limited molting occurs throughout the winter.” Wild. Learn something new... Still, is this generally known among feeder watchers? So much to learn.
It’s fun being able to recognize individual birds. Spock was back today. - - Dave Nutter > On Jan 15, 2021, at 2:21 PM, Dave Nutter <nutter.d...@me.com> wrote: > > For the last 10 months I have sharply curtailed my travel, both on account of > the pandemic and to eliminate my birding carbon footprint. Meanwhile I have > been paying closer attention to feeder birds than ever before. Maybe other > folks who have longer experience carefully noting who comes to their feeders > can answer me this: > > Is it unusual to have male American Goldfinches already beginning to molt > into breeding plumage in the middle of January? Yesterday I noticed at least > 2 with black speckles appearing on their foreheads, and one of those even has > a single bright yellow arched eyebrow, like a tiny quizzical Mr. Spock. I > noticed these birds at a time when I also had a new maximum number of > American Goldfinches, so I guess it’s possible that it’s these individual > birds’ presence rather than their plumage that has changed. So, my > alternative question is: Have other feeder watchers seen male American > Goldfinches retaining black speckles on the forehead or asymmetrical bright > yellow patches beyond the typical autumn molt time and into the winter? > > Thanks. > > - - Dave Nutter -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
