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American Goldfinch/Wild canary???

dreher
Everything I have read about Goldfinches is that they nest only once per year. Since they are seed eaters they wait until later in the summer so the various seed bearers have a good amount of seed for them to eat before they nest.


So this morning, Oct. third, here in upstate South Carolina, I have VERY young canaries at my bird feeders. Young enough the feathers aren't quite right and their flying is pretty bad. A day or two out of the nest??


So what is this, did mom and dad really wait this late to raise their babies or did mom and dad decide to have two sets of babies??


I guess my question is are the bird books correct about one nesting per year or does the south have its own rules due to the much longer growing season??
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Comments

8 comments

Date Votes
  • hillbille
    wonder if the first nest/eggs were destroyed/messed with if they would build second, or lay second batch
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  • He Dog
    Canaries are called that because they are native to the Canary Islands. It would be very unlikely for there to be several at your feeder. Gold finches don't read bird books and in good years may do what they decide is right about nesting.
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  • texaswildman
    It is quite common for granivorous birds to initiate a second or third nest attempt should their nests be destroyed or the clutch fail to hatch successfully. Usually, the next attempt has fewer eggs in the clutch, and so on. In other words, first nest has 4 eggs and is destroyed, then the second attempt will have 2-3 eggs, third attempt fewer eggs and so on. I've seen this many times where the nest was rebuilt 3 to 4 times in an attempt to hatch a clutch. Most of the time the last attempt will have one or two Eggs even if the first attempt had a dozen. Of course the weather has to cooperate. Likely the birds you saw were recently fledged and their feathering replacement not yet complete...
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  • yoshmyster
    quote:Originally posted by He Dog
    Canaries are called that because they are native to the Canary Islands. It would be very unlikely for there to be several at your feeder. Gold finches don't read bird books and in good years may do what they decide is right about nesting.


    Like pigs they got loose.
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  • He Dog
    quote:Originally posted by yoshmyster
    quote:Originally posted by He Dog
    Canaries are called that because they are native to the Canary Islands. It would be very unlikely for there to be several at your feeder. Gold finches don't read bird books and in good years may do what they decide is right about nesting.


    Like pigs they got loose.


    One now and then sure, several juveniles at once is highly unlikely. Juvenile goldfinches late in the year, far more likely.
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  • chiefr
    We see them in mass on our bird feeder in the spring. Later in Aug-Sep, they are seen atop of dead drying milk thistle plants pluck out the seeds. Males and females have different color patterns. Males bright yellow.

    If you want to attract them, put thistle seeds in your bird feeder.
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  • dreher
    Come on guys, I know they are Goldfinches but as a kid growing up in Ohio they were Wild Canaries. They will always be Wild Canaries to me!!

    Last year was my first year using a Droll Yankee thistle seed feeder. I literally could not count the numbers of "Canaries" in my back yard because by the time I would get to 30+ they would move and I would have to start my count over again!!

    Check out the Droll Yankee bird feeders. American made quality!! Really nice feeders.
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  • He Dog
    Dreher, you point up the problem with common names. Different areas call the same bird by different names, so it is hard to know what you are talking about. I never heard them called 'wild canaries' so forgive my being pedantic. Scientists use scientific names which don't change no matter where you go, but I have more than once stood in a group of herpetologists taking about a particular species and the scientific names are pronounced three or four different ways, depending upon where each went to school.

    In any event, thanks for helping feed the birds![:)]
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