Mystery Bird: Lesser Goldfinch, Spinus (Carduelis) psaltria

it looks like a 'talgoxe' [great tit] or a 'grönmes' [Sylviparus] with that yellow belly and greenish coat. Then you say it is photographed in Ca so I don't think my Sweidhs bird will be ther correct one... Had to try though :)

I'll play... Female Lesser Goldfinch? Greenish back, no white under tail and white wing patch on the primaries.

I see these birds all the time in my yard. What are they?

From the coloring on the wings and the head it looks like the back end of a Pine Siskin.

I think Duncraft is right - Lesser Goldfinch (Carduelis psaltria) - although I won't commit to calling this a female - immature males may have very little black on the back.

The green back, presence of yellow undertail coverts and absence of yellow on the wings exclude Lawrence's and American Goldfinches (C lawrencei and C. tristis).

LadyMin -- a Pine Siskin should show little if any yellow below, some yellow in the wing markings, and stronger streaking on the back, as well as strong streaking on the flanks. On the other hand, you're in the right genus, unless the powers that be have changed things up again.

What a crazy coincident, the North American Golden-Throated Laser Bird was just a mystery bird on my blog too.

The two marks that differentiate this as the "lyre-playing" species from the "sad" one are: yellow undertail coverts instead of white; and a lack of distinct white margins to the retrices...

I am clear on the taxonomy- what some suggest as the genus is in fact the subgenus and therefore not formally accepted as the taxonomic name- see Sibley and Monroe and Clements who call the genus "thistle-eaters"...

as far west as San Rafael is, range dictates that this is probably the hesperophila subspecies

and the tree species is a Sweetgum, Liquidambar syraciflua, a native here in the eastern US but popularly used as an ornamental in California and a common seed source for the species pictured above

chall,

Your Yellow-browed Tit, Sylviparus modestus, would show brown wings with olive-yellow margins and a brownish tail with buff underparts- if it happened to be found in California, it could be comfortable excluded because it lacks both the black and white shown here in the wings and tail...

similarly, the Great Tit, Parus major, would not show any of the white/black patterning as above, and of course the black head and nape would be obvious...

A couple of more points, David. An American Goldfinch would be unlikely to ever show the dark green back of this bird -- females tend towards pale olive brown there. And the white check on the primaries would be much smaller -- you can see a bit of white there in fresh plumage, but it is never this broad.

And Duncraft -- excellent call, although I'm not sold on this being a female. From what I can find, females don't usually show the strong, contrasty wing pattern that this bird does. Although adult males in Texas have black backs, birds from Arizona west into California have green backs. They do show black caps, but I'm not sure if we're seeing far enough up the crown to say whether there might be one.

Thanks Paul, good clue on the white patches (another "sweet" note to add to my guide!)

And I agree totally, I think this is defintely a Winter plumage male and not a female- the sharpness of the black/white patterning on the wings is pretty much definitive- females in Winter have the contrast but it is a quite a bit more subdued and the wingbars look more olive than white (I see this Winter contrast also in American Goldfinches)... also I think the back edge of the black forehead cap is just visible in this photo- I would not use it definitively if it weren't for the strong wing patterning, but in this case I think it supports this being a male- I'm sure Grrl can contact Joseph to send us some of the companion shots to the one above...

I really enjoy this site. The "mystery bird" has me digging in my bird guides every day. Thanks to all for the excellent commentary.

If the picture was taken in December, it leads me to believe that it is a non-breeding warbler. This bird has a wash of yellow-greenish like a Bay-breasted warbler (Floyd 2008). However, due to the prominent 7 white wing bars, and short thin warbler tail, I am going to have to say this is a Blackpoll Warbler.

From what I can see, the bird does not have a "forked" tail like that of an American Goldfinch.

Sibley shows the undertail coverts on Blackpoll Warblers to be white. This seems more likely to be a Lesser Goldfinch.

Hey Katie,

If this were indeed a female Blackpoll Warbler (Dendroica striata) I think we would expect to see obvious streaking across the back and along the flanks; in addition, the undertail coverts are always white (and if you look more closely at the size of the white patches on the flight feathers you will note that those of the Blackpoll are a lot smaller than those we see above)...

I think one would expect streaking across the back on the Bay-breasted Warbler (Dendroica castanea) too, considerably less white on the flight feathers than the Blackpoll or our subject above, buffy underparts, and even in Winter plumage, rust along the flanks...

I can't find any N.Am. warblers that show a combination of bright yellow flanks, yellow undertail coverts, and strong wingbars.

On the other hand, Katie, I think a closer look at the tail will show a definite fork. The problem is that the tail is closed, so all of the feathers are stacked on top of each other. The way a bird's tail closes, the central tail feathers end up on top, the outermost ones on the bottom. Here, the central feathers are clearly shorter than the ones below them. When spread, that will produce a forked shape.

Thanks for all the suggestions about my comments. I appreciate it. It looks like a warbler to me but I am still an amateur when it comes to Western North American birds. I'm still studying the East coast. :)

Hi Grrl,

My reliance upon Sibley and Monroe, and to the current 6th Edition of Clements Checklist already seems out of date with respect to some species!

According to David Sibley's latest list of name changes, October 2009 AOU decisions regarding the American. Lesser, and Lawrence's Goldfinches assign them formally to the genus Spinus