American Goldfinch

Carduelis tristis The first 2003 rush of American Goldfinch (a.k.a. gold rush) in Humble, came in January. And what a wonderful rush it was! At times I could count up to 20 finch at a feeder, at one time. I spent the month of January adding feeders to accommodate all the visitors. I stayed pretty busy filling and cleaning feeders throughout the months of January and February. Here it is March, and they are all but gone. The fiesty little birds will be greatly missed. I have noticed two finch that are still visiting the feeders, and that is about all. In case your not sure, Thistle seed is their absolute favorite. Black Oil Sunflower seed is okay, but if you can afford the thistle, that would be their first choice. Grackles, other blackbirds, and squirrels don't seem to care for thistle as much, so you won't have problems with the other birds hogging the feeders.

Well I was slightly mistaken about the Goldfinch being gone. There are still some slow-pokes around Download a zipped AVI file (1mb) that can be viewed with Windows Media Player, Real Player or Quicktime viewer. This file is a collection of shots from the HW Webcam from March 2001.

A few things I learned:

There is a disease that has been affecting large numbers of the finch family. The disease is a form of conjunctivitis. It infects the eyes of the birds, and can, and usually does wind up in death.

This disease has been documented in primarily the House Finch species, but also shows up in other finches as well. Hence the name "House Finch Disease." I believe I read that this disease originated in our domestic turkeys and chickens.

If you see a finch that behaves sluggish, slow, akward, stumbling, and left behind by it's flock, look closer. If it's eyes look swollen and/or have dried or flaky matter built up around it's eyes, then it is probably infected. You can report the sick bird to Cornell University's "Sick and Injured Bird" website. Most importantly - If you see more than one sick bird, pull your feeders for a couple of days to discourage the sick birds, and be sure to clean your feeders before hanging them back in your yard. If a bird dies in your yard, call a local wildlife rehabilitator for assistance.

Remember, it is illegal to possess or remove a bird (even a DEAD one), other than the European Starling, a House Sparrow, or Rock Dove (which is really a pigeon) - or of course, the birds available for purchase in the produce department at your local grocery store.

Back to the Goldfinch migration, the little birds behavior at the feeders reminded me of the Ruby throated Hummingbirds that left only a couple months before the Goldfinch arrived. The Goldfinch bickered and squabbled over feeding stations, even holding aerial battles.

As a final note, I can't wait until they return next year. If the birds keep a fairly regular calendar, I suppose that here in Humble, we can look forward to early January 2004.

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