American Goldfinch: The American Goldfinches are songbirds found throughout the United States in riparian areas, woodlands, orchards, weedy fields, agricultural lands, gardens and parks. The males’ bright yellow and black plumage makes them very recognized at the bird feeder. Females are brownish yellow with brownish black wings with white streaks; both are identifiable by their short conical bills and short notched tail. They are year-round residents west of the Cascades in the interior valleys. In the wild they eat sunflower seeds, thistle, asters, grasses, and tree seeds of alder, birch, western red cedar and elm. At the feeder they prefer sunflower seeds and nyjer thistle seeds.

Photo by  Mdf, CC BY-SA 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/, via Wikimedia Commons