The chances are good that you’ve seen a goldfinch or two travel through your yard if average regional temperatures don’t dip below 0 degrees Fahrenheit. American goldfinches living in colder areas of the United States don’t care for winter weather, so they vacation in warmer areas during the cold months. Lesser goldfinches remain in the southwest year round. Goldfinches are strict vegetarians that have adapted well to the naturally occurring seed sources in their native locales. Attract goldfinches with their preferred botanic necessities such as food, shelter and nesting materials to convince them that your house is the best choice for a forever homestead.
Designate an area of your yard as a goldfinch meadow or feeding sanctuary and allow the native plants to grow, flourish and produce seeds. These birds love seeds of common dandelion -- a delicacy, buckwheats (Eriogonum spp.), filaree, goldenrod, pigweed, ragweed, ragwort, sages and yellow tarweed. Add your own mix of goldfinch grass and weed seed choices such as blue-eyed grass (Sisyrinchium bellum), California field sedge (Carex praegricillis), western fescue (Festuca californica) and yellow-eyed grass (Sisyrinchium californicum).
Plant colorful flowers such as asters, Bolivian sunflower, cosmos, daisies, marigolds, Mexican sunflower, poppies, purple coneflowers and zinnias. The seedheads of these plants are relished by goldfinches throughout their growing seasons. A particular blooming favorite is the black oil sunflower. These multi-branching plants produce smaller flower heads than the huge gray-striped varieties. Leave garden flowers intact rather than deadheading, to allow goldfinches to feed from them as long as possible. Coneflower and sunflower seeds can remain on the stalks throughout summer and into the fall. Cut excess flower heads and save them to hang out for goldfinch food during the winter.
Allow native wild thistle and milkweed plants to grow in your yard rather than destroy them as pests. Goldfinches love eating their seeds. These birds nest later in the year than most other species, seeming to wait until thistles and milkweed go to seed. Goldfinches prefer these seeds for feeding their young. These plants also produce the natural fibers that the birds use for nesting materials.
Plant native trees and shrubs that supplement natural goldfinch diets. These birds enjoy seeds from white alder (Alnus rhombifolia), big-leaf maple (Acer macrophyllum), western red cedar (Thuja plicata), American elm (Ulmus americana), Chinese elm (Ulmus parvifolia), Siberian elm (Ulmus pumila), river birch (Betula nigra), island mallow (Lavatera assurgentiflora) and western redbud (Cercis occidentalis). Goldfinches also relish the hips of California rose (Rosa californica). Lesser goldfinches will consume buds of alders, cottonwoods, oaks, sycamores and willows as well as fruits from elderberry, coffeeberry and madrone (Arbutus spp.).
Plant large trees and shrubs of all types to supply safe nesting sites in your yard. Goldfinches create cup-shaped nests and secure them to the crotches of these plants. Hang baskets filled with natural nesting materials such as cotton and wool, if you can’t grow natural plant fibers that goldfinches prefer for homemaking. This will encourage them to build their nests in your yard. Cotton is a good choice since it dries quickly, and wool is warm even if it gets wet.
Set up a bird bath if you don’t have a natural water source nearby. Situate it among shrubs and low-branched trees so goldfinches can keep watch for predators while descending gradually toward the water. While wild birds obtain most of the water they need from their foods, they do enjoy an occasional sip of cool, clean water. They also glory in bathing, which helps keep their feathers clean. Providing fresh water is one more trick in your bag for keeping neighborhood goldfinches hanging around at your house.
Offer niger and black oil sunflower seeds in feeders all year, particularly from November through March when many natural food plants don’t produce seeds. Goldfinches may continue to dine exclusively at the feeders through early May, when dandelions go to seed. Depending upon natural local food source availability, these birds will visit feeders off and on for the remainder of spring and summer. At the end of July native thistles produce seeds, which goldfinches turn their attention to as they begin nesting. By late August they’ll be bringing their babies to your feeders.
Things You Will Need
- Wool fibers
- Bird bath
- Nijer seed
- Black oil sunflower seed
- Squirrels don’t typically feed on niger seeds, so your goldfinch feeders are usually safe from these marauders.
- Keep cats away from your yard.
- While thistles produce seeds and nesting fibers prized by goldfinches, many are regarded as noxious invasives in California.
- Los Angeles Audubon: Go Native to Attract Birds!
- Friends of the Regional Parks Botanic Garden: Native Plants that Attract Birds to Your Garden
- Cornell Lab of Ornithology -- All About Birds: American Goldfinch
- Cornell Lab of Ornithology -- All About Birds: Lesser Goldfinch
- Wild Birds Unlimited: How Do I Attract Goldfinches?
- Wild Birds Forever: Get Gorgeous Goldfinches!
- Windstar Wildlife Institute: Attracting Goldfinches to Your Feeders
- Chicago Tribune: Goldfinches Are Drawn to Many Flowering Plants
- Wild Bird Marketing: A Seed Identity Problem -- What You Don’t Know About Nyjer
- National Geographic: American Goldfinch (Carduelis tristis)
- National Geographic: Lesser Goldfinch (Carduelis psaltria)
- Santa Fe New Mexican: Late Summer Brings Plenty of Goldfinches
- Birds-N-Garden: Gardening to Attract Wild Birds, Butterflies & Hummingbirds
- The Free Quark: The Goldfinch and Thistle (A Pub With No Pints)
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