Welcome!
Click here for the
store nearest you!

Franchise information:
Call: (888) 730-7108
http://www.wbu.com/frdev/

Welcome to BirdTracks® Online!
An email newsletter from
Wild Birds Unlimited for July 2005.

In This Issue:
 - Bird of the Month: Goldfinches
 - Fun Facts About Goldfinches
 - Products to attract and enjoy Goldfinches
 - Up Close and Personal With Sandhill Cranes

The Thistle Bird - Goldfinch
The American Goldfinch is a bird of many aliases: wild canary, yellowbird, lettuce bird, and thistle bird, just to name a few. Which name a person uses often reveals a lot about their interests and hobbies.
   Serious birders call it by its "official" name of American Goldfinch. Ask a gardening enthusiast and you might hear the name "lettuce bird" due to the bird's practice of nibbling at the tender young leaves of this vegetable. Most causal birdwatchers simply use the term "wild canary" because its magnificent yellow and black coloration remind them of a pet store canary.
   A rarely used, but debatably more accurate name, is "thistle bird." It has long been known that thistle plants and goldfinch are almost inseparable, and even its genus name, Caruelis, is from the Latin word carduus, meaning "thistle."
   Goldfinches rely heavily on thistle plants as a source of food and for nest-building materials. So much so, that during a research study in Michigan that observed over 250 nests, no nest was ever found more than 300 yards away from an abundant supply of thistle seed.
   Goldfinches delay the start of their nesting behavior until the thistles come into bloom so they can anticipate an abundant and reliable supply of seeds for their young. Look for those blossoms any day now, and keep your WBU finch feeder filled with fresh Nyjer® (thistle) seed to welcome the nesting "thistle birds" to your backyard refuge.

Fun Facts About Goldfinches

• Goldfinches are found across North America. They include the American and Lesser Goldfinches.
• Goldfinches are sometimes referred to as wild canaries. They are actually in the finch family as their name suggests.
• They have an interesting flight call with four syllables that can be likened to "potato-chip."
• They are common feeder visitors that prefer thistle (nyjer) and sunflowers. They are rather acrobatic often dipping upside down feeding on weed seeds like coneflowers and sunflowers.
• Goldfinches usually lay 5 pale-blue or greenish-blue eggs that will hatch in about 12 days. Babies will fledge about 12 days after that. An interesting side note is that the nest cleaning is ceased about a week after the babies hatch.
• Goldfinches prefer to nest in habitats with trees and shrubs usually placing the nest 4-10 feet high, often near a water source. They will sometimes nest in a loose colony.
• They weave their nest so tightly that it will temporarily hold water.
• Goldfinches will hang upside down to eat, but experiments with specially designed feeders have shown that they prefer to dine upright if possible.
• Goldfinches are known to prefer feeders hung above head height in trees, but if there is no choice available, they will accept just about any feeder design, at any height.
• Goldfinches don winter clothes: the dull-green coat of feathers grown each fall has an especially dense layer of soft, plumaceous feathers to provide extra insulation.

Products to attract and enjoy Goldfinches

Invite Goldfinches to your yard with a thistle seed tube feeder
like the WBU Finch Feeder. The WBU brand finch tubes are
designed with armored feeding stations and have a seed deflector
which ensures all seed is eaten and does not sit at the bottom
of the feeder.

The seed ports have smaller holes that allow the smaller-billed
finches to pull out the thistle/niger seed or fine sunflower chips.
Made of clear polycarbonate plastic.

Please inquire at your local Wild Birds Unlimited store for the
wide variety of other products available to help you attract, feed
and enjoy Goldfinches in your yard.

Privacy Policy

Site Feedback

© 1996-2008 Wild Birds Unlimited, Inc.