All species › Passerines › Finches, euphonias and allies › Lesser Goldfinch
Lesser Goldfinch | Spinus psaltria
Witbandsijs | Jilguero dominico | Pintassilgo-pequeno
The Lesser Goldfinch is a small black-and-yellow finch of dry, open country with scattered trees, from the western United States to north-western Peru. In the guide area the males are entirely black above. It lives in small groups, often in gardens, field edges and dry scrub.
Voice
Plaintive, whistled calls, a rising tee-yee and a falling tee-yer, and a rapid, long, twittering song, often with mimicry of other birds.
Recording: Manuel Grosselet — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
10–11 cm, with a short, pointed, conical bill and a notched tail. In the guide area the male has a glossy black crown, cheeks, back and wings and entirely bright yellow underparts, including the throat. The wing shows a bold white patch at the base of the primaries and white edges to the tertials; there is white at the base of the outer tail feathers. The female is olive-green above and yellow to greenish yellow below, with dark wings with a white wing bar and a smaller white patch. Young males at first resemble the female.
Confusion species
Hooded Siskin Spinus magellanicus has a black hood including the throat and an olive-green back, and yellow rather than white wing markings. Yellow-bellied Siskin Spinus xanthogastrus has a black throat and breast. Saffron Siskin Spinus siemiradzkii of the Tumbes region has a black hood with a yellow back. Females of these species lack the white patch in the wing.
Habitat
Dry forest, scrub, open country with scattered trees, field edges, riparian woodland, gardens and parks, from sea level to about 3000 m, most frequent between 500 and 2500 m. It feeds mainly on seeds of composites and other herbs, also on buds. The nest is a small, dense cup in a shrub or tree.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
In Colombia widespread in the Andean valleys, the Caribbean lowlands and the dry inter-Andean valleys. In Ecuador in the dry western lowlands and the inter-Andean valleys. In Peru only in the north-west, mainly in the Tumbes region and the Marañón valley. Absent from Bolivia and the Galápagos. Outside the guide area from the western United States through Mexico and Central America to Venezuela.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
In dry valleys and village gardens, look for groups of small black-and-yellow finches on seeding herbs; the plaintive tee-yee call is often heard before the birds are seen.
Conservation status
Least Concern. The species benefits locally from open, man-made landscapes; it is trapped here and there as a cage bird.
Scientific name
Spinus psaltria | (Say, 1822)
Say described the species in 1822 as Fringilla psaltria; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Spinus was introduced in 1816 by Koch. The genus name comes from Greek spinos, the name of a bird that can no longer be identified. The species name is Greek psaltria, 'female harpist', after the song. The specimen the first description was based on came from Near Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States.