Dear friends;
I need some help. Recently there have been two birds that have come to my feeder that are the size of a chickadee or sparrow, but their coloring is a very vivid canary yellow. These AREN’T canaries. (I do know a canary). What the heck are they? I live in the Southern Interior area of Canada.( Kamloops area)
Thanks in advance…
SAAY…you ARE good!
Dem’s the lil fellers… Are they Good Eatin’?
I’m still new to this country and we didn’t have them under the Smog-Berry trees of Los Angeles…TY Lionel…
Another possibility is the American Goldfinch - their summer breeding range includes southern British Columbia:
http://www.wbu.com/chipperwoods/photos/goldfinch.htm
- Tamerlane
Yeah, my first thought when I read your description was “goldfinch” too — they’re usually easier to spot than warblers, and a lot more common at feeders. It’s not evident from the pictures linked, but male yellow warblers (that’s their species name, not just a descriptive adjective) should have reddish streaks on their bellies. Male goldfinches have a very distinctive yellow-and-black colour scheme, and no red on their bellies. Also, the female goldfinches are a lot more drab than the males (sufficiently so that it’s possible to mistake them for another species.)
Here is a head-on shot of an adult female and one of an adult male Yellow Warbler, both caught in New Jersey. They really are intense little birds. I like the look the female is giving, sorta a “harumpf.” Dendroica petechia. Cowbirds will often try to lay an egg in their nests, but the warblers will counteract by building a floor over the eggs and then laying their own clutch.
FWIW, we get goldfinches at my mom’s feeder all the time. (Not so much an identification on the base of range, but more in the way of aptitude to be at the feeder…) They’re adorable, especially the males.
brachyrhynchos, your first warbler picture is on a par with The Mad Bluebird for grumpy little bird cuteness.
SE Michigan here, so we’re quite a ways away, but we get goldfinches all the time. I don’t know what warblers eat, but the finches love thistle seed. We’ve had up to 10 or 12 of them at once hanging around the feeder this spring.
Hehe, that’s a great shot of a grumpy bird!
Yellow Warblers are primarily insectivores, throwing in a berry or two.