Migrating passerines – goldfinch
Photo: Arne Ader
Translation: Liis
Goldfinch picking at burdock seeds
Goldfinch Ohakalind Carduelis carduelis
When it was still fashionable to keep caged birds the brightly coloured goldfinches were often caught for this purpose. Goldfinch males were put in cages with canary bird females, to get beautiful-looking and singing cage birds.
The migration of the passing migrants towards south ends with October but about a couple of ten thousand brave winterers stay. Goldfinches are sociable and move around in small groups when searching for food; individuals can be compared then. There are bright colours enough and to spare: the slightly larger male birds have a little more red in the head plumage and the yellow streak on the wing is a little broader and stronger in colour. Young birds are easy to recognise in the flock – they are greyish-brown, with narrow streaks, but the wings already show yellow feathers.
As seed eaters they look for meals on weedy lands: from thistles, burdocks or Compositae family plants.
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