Saturday, April 1, 2017

Goldfinches — American vs European

We were walking beside the Thames in London when a flutter of European Golfinches erupted from a nearby tree.


As soon as I zoomed in with my camera, I recognized them by their...

Red faces.

These European finches are much bigger than our squeaky-toy-yellow American goldfinches. (Photo below from my Saskatchewan, Canada, bird blog, PrairieNature.blogspot.ca. My thanks to myself for permission.)


It seems odd at first to call these two species of birds by the same name. 

But the European Goldfinch really looks more finch-like to me than my tiny backyard version does... And if you look closely at its picture, or see it in flight, you might notice that its wing bars are bright yellow. 



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