Goldfinches Are Back!!!

Finally, the American Goldfinches have returned here to southern NH!! Three days ago Don said to me "do you want to bet when the first goldfinch arrives?" The words were hardly out of his mouth when we looked out the window and there at the feeders were the first two goldfinches. You can see the male goldfinch above at our Stokes Finch Tube feeder, filled with Nyjer Plus mix i.e., sunflower chips and thistle (nyjer) being enjoyed by a Downy Woodpecker and the goldfinch. He is still turning from his drab winter coloring into his bright yellow breeding plumage.

In our recent blog post, "Do You Have Goldfiches" we pondered the mysterious disappearance of the goldfinches from NH and other northern areas this winter. Was it because of lack of seeds here, the invasion of more northern finches such as Common Redpolls, because they knew this would be a record-breaking severe winter and decided to leave, or other reasons? Many of you from all over the country wrote and told us you had goldfinches this winter. The Zen Birdfeeder blog in upstate NY just told us that their goldfinch numbers were down all winter and their first goldfinches just reappeared. Have your goldfinches just arrived?