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Feeder ID - Leucistic Goldfinch?

10 years ago

Hey there! I'm a newbie bird nerd in Maryland, and a first time poster here on the bird-watching forum *waves*

This afternoon, I spied an unusual goldfinch at my thistle feeder. He/she is struggling with getting the hang of the upside-down feeder (unfortunately, a necessity due to an overabundance of HOSP) and is shown here sharing a perch with one of the regulars. Is this a leucistic goldfinch? Apologies for the crappy photo - my cell camera leaves a bit to be desired >.Your help is appreciated!

Kindest regards,
Michele

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Comments (6)

surya55_gw
10 years ago
Welcome Michele! Not sure but it looks like it's in the midst of changing from its summer feathers to the drab, olive one for winter...
calliope
10 years ago
I think it may be a leucistic junco. I've seen photos of four or five of them looks just like the one in your post. Here's a link to a birdwatch site. Scroll down a bit and there is an whole series of pics of one.

Here is a link that might be useful: leusistic junco
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Hi, June. I've never had much seed loss from the socks, oddly enough. They really are so cheap and easy to keep during our brief goldfinch season that I almost always use them. I've gone through three of them this spring, but now I'm down to just two goldfinches and they are feeding mostly on sunflower seed at the tray feeder. I do have one screened in thistle seed feeder, but the birds didn't seem to like it as much as the sock. I've thought about getting one like you linked to, but never bothered with the extra expense, since the goldfinches are only here for 3 or 4 weeks before heading back north. They come through in the fall, too, but not for as long. No matter which style feeder used, they do LOVE those thistle seeds, and it is so worth putting out for them. I had males this year completely colored up, solid brilliant yellow with black wings and cap, by the time they left. They were breathtaking. (Not my photo, btw) One thing, though...I didn't see a single bunting this year. Last year, I had indigos almost every day, and two painted buntings for about a week or 10 days. I also had a rose-breasted grosbeak one day, and a blue grosbeak once. So far, none of them has shown up this year, sniff! My catbird is still here and still eating seeds, but the myrtle warbler has finally figured out that he isn't supposed to be a seed eater and has gone off to find the rest of his flock. The garden is so much the richer for these wonderful creatures I share it with. They make my heart happy, and I hope to find more and more plants and flowers that will help bring them in. Marcia
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This doesn't shock me after something I witnessed last year. We seemed to catch the "great goldfinch migration" with literally 40 to 50 finches in our yard during a 1 day period (our normal summer finch activity is 4 to 5 mating pairs of goldfinches and a few house finches). The goldfinches certainly swarmed the finch feeder, but the really weird behavior was how they all lined up at the border between the street and our yard in order to eat dandelion greens. To this day, I hay no idea why they were eating dandelion greens, but there is no question that is what most of the "flock" was doing. But eating chard leaves wouldn't surpise me.
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OH NO, please go over to the birdwatching forum and read my post about the flufed up birds. What you have there is salmenilla. I had two that I cought and brough in two days ago. They rooseted together through the night, then died the next day. You must take all your feeders down and wash them with a bleach solution. You know the drill I am sure. Clean under the feeders and any bird baths too.There has been a outbreak in our reigon. It is highly contageous and can be transmited to humans and domestic pets. There are several good links in the post over there. This is NOT one of those things that you want to let nature take it's course with. This affects birds in the finch family the most, including pine siskins. I know how badly you felt, I go through the same dilema myself and it was so sad to watch those little birdies die, I was going to take them to the rehabber to be put to sleep, there is nothing to cure it, I am glad they had each other in a warm place to die. So WARNING to anybody in this region, pleas please keep your feeders EXTRA CLEAN especially UNDER them , this is spread by fecies. I am so sorry dirtgirl. Lisa
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Thanks everyone for your posts. It's so interesting to see what other people are seeing in different locations. :-) I've seen several albino and leucistic birds in the West Desert of Utah in the last few years. It's funny this thread started, because my BF and I were just commenting on the fact that we seem to see a large number of these birds - compared to other areas of the country I have lived. The best (to me) was a White Raven. After it fledged, I never saw it again. We routinely see leucistic Eurasian Collared Doves with various amounts of white. And last summer we had a white House Sparrow for many months. We also have various colors of House Finch - from the normal red to other shades of orange and yellow. I have been birding for 30+ years, but I'll only comment on these ones I've seen in the last 4-5 years in Utah. It's always fun seeing something a little different :-) Candy This post was edited by zaffisc on Tue, Feb 26, 13 at 13:15
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michey1st_gw
Original Author
10 years ago
Thank you for the warm welcome and information, Surya and Calliope!

I'm not sure it's a junco, as behaviorally and size-wise, it was really behaving like a goldfinch. My Juncos don't really care for any of my feeders, and this little guy went straight to the thistle. BUT, the more I research, the more i'm leaning towards some form of leucistic variety (leucisism?).

He did seem to get picked on by others, although to be fair, a few of them are ornery and territorial little buggers that fight with anything that comes close.

I wish I had another snow day today so I could see if he returned, but alas, it all melted and I had to go to work =(

Thank you both for chiming in!
Michele
tmff
10 years ago
If this bird comes back, could you try to snap another photo or two? I'm having trouble making an ID from this photo.
michey1st_gw
Original Author
10 years ago
Hi TMFF!

Thanks for jumping inI definitely will give it another go! I should get some decent birdwatching in on Saturday morning, although we are looking at a day of snow, sleet and freezing rain -- no telling what will venture out for a nibble! I will update this post if I manage to get another (better) photo.

Thank you and have a great weekend!
Michele
Aurore
10 years ago
I'd say leucistic gold finch. Not sure. After following this forum for a while I've come to believe that albino refers to totally white (pink eyed bird). Partial albino is a bird with some white, but not all. Leucistic is a lighter colored bird perhaps retaining some markings and color.

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