Originally Posted by mrsD
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okay, hotfoot....

Photo one is a family of goldfinches.
The yellow and black one is the male.
The farthest left with the light yellow belly is a female.
The two in the middle are new fledglings, they are a bit larger, and darker than the breeding adults. The one perching on the stick next to the yellow male is waiting for him to feed her and flapping her wings, begging.

Goldfinches in N.America are the only songbirds who molt twice.
(I looked that up). The males molt in spring from drab olive feathers, to the jazzy sleak yellow/black. In fall they molt again into the drab colors for winter.

We have a tube feeder outside the kitchen window with finch seed in it. So we get to see them up close.
Goldfinches only eat seeds, and no insects. So they nest late in summer when the flowers and weeds are setting their seeds.
I plant specific flowers for them in containers which are on a bench outside my computer room window--and I take their photos thru the window.

The second photo is of the fluff dispenser I put out for them in spring. (in winter it holds corn cobs for the blue jays and squirrels). The female is at the top and her mate is below.
I originally offered the fluff for the hummingbirds, and was pleasantly surprised that the goldfinches really loved the fluff more! If you Google Goldfinch nests and hit images function you can see how some use it to line their summer nests. I didn't know this either until 2014!

We have hummingbirds too. Just one family I think though.

This is one photo of a fledgling in early fall in 2015, sitting next to the feeder. You can tell fledgling hummers by their short beaks. Males have short beaks too, but they have a red throat in the second season and they are a bit smaller than the female who has a longer beak.