Spending time with American Goldfinches at the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh

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Is there any more cheerful sight on a late summer morning then an American Goldfinch snacking on flower seeds? I captured a few portraits of these little ones at the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh a couple of weeks ago and couldn’t believe my luck in getting these pretty images. Did you know that this gorgeous bird is known to be the only member of the finch family that sheds off all its feathers twice in a single year? You can distinguish the male American Goldfinch from the female because he is the one having the canary yellow plumage and jet black cap. (Pics 1,2,&3) The female is olive yellow on her neck and breast during summer. (Pics 4&5) Both the male and female Goldfinches change to an almost identical color pattern after a complete molting during the fall. Interestingly, one of the males I found here was missing his distinctive black cap. Where the black is supposed to be, it’s that yellow color that’s covering the rest of his body. (Pic 6) The odds are that this because he’s a juvenile in molt, however his overall bright yellow color leads me to think that there is some sort of other thing going on here with his unusual plumage pattern. There are several different forms of plumage abnormality centred on altered amounts of pigment. These include the following… Leucism and albinism -where there is loss of the pigment melanin. Melanism -which the amount and/or distribution of dark-colored melanin pigment is often elevated. Erythrism -where a chestnut-red pigment replaces certain other pigments. Flavism -where there is an excess of yellow pigment. Perhaps this male is affected by a touch of flavism given the bright yellow feathers on his crown have replaced the black plumage typically observed with this species. Tbh though, I’m not sure. What do you think about his missing black cap? Please share your thoughts on this bird below 🙂 Photos by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc on the fabulous full frame SLR, the @canonusa #5Ds

A post shared by Bird Watching N.C. (@birdwatching_nc) on Sep 3, 2020 at 5:42am PDT