Some of mine are similar but my impression without photo documentation is that some never fully lost yellow patches or black flecks.
Sent from my iPhone > On Jan 15, 2021, at 5:18 PM, Dave Nutter <nutter.d...@me.com> wrote: > > On a recommendation I looked at Macaulay’s winter photos and saw plenty of > variety but no sense of whether the sample is biased for or against molting > birds. Then I recalled I own a reference, a bander’s ID guide. For American > Goldfinch it says: “Continuous, limited molting occurs throughout the > winter.” Wild. Learn something new... Still, is this generally known among > feeder watchers? So much to learn. > > It’s fun being able to recognize individual birds. Spock was back today. > > - - Dave Nutter > >> On Jan 15, 2021, at 2:21 PM, Dave Nutter <nutter.d...@me.com> wrote: >> >> For the last 10 months I have sharply curtailed my travel, both on account >> of the pandemic and to eliminate my birding carbon footprint. Meanwhile I >> have been paying closer attention to feeder birds than ever before. Maybe >> other folks who have longer experience carefully noting who comes to their >> feeders can answer me this: >> >> Is it unusual to have male American Goldfinches already beginning to molt >> into breeding plumage in the middle of January? Yesterday I noticed at least >> 2 with black speckles appearing on their foreheads, and one of those even >> has a single bright yellow arched eyebrow, like a tiny quizzical Mr. Spock. >> I noticed these birds at a time when I also had a new maximum number of >> American Goldfinches, so I guess it’s possible that it’s these individual >> birds’ presence rather than their plumage that has changed. So, my >> alternative question is: Have other feeder watchers seen male American >> Goldfinches retaining black speckles on the forehead or asymmetrical bright >> yellow patches beyond the typical autumn molt time and into the winter? >> >> Thanks. >> >> - - Dave Nutter > > -- > Cayugabirds-L List Info: > Welcome and Basics > Rules and Information > Subscribe, Configuration and Leave > Archives: > The Mail Archive > Surfbirds > BirdingOnThe.Net > Please submit your observations to eBird! > -- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
