American Goldfinch are partial to thistle seed and are not too fussy about whether or not they are native or introduced thistles. In order to feed on thistles, they sometimes get right down into their scratchy heads as though bathing in their food supply… Just watch this male go at it from every angle, creating a mist of floating thistle seed!
Of course, it is not just thistles that they like to feed on in this manner!
I am a conservationist and ornithologist. I now work for the Canadian Wildlife Service. I coordinated the Manitoba Breeding Bird Atlas (http://birdatlas.mb.ca), chair the Manitoba Important Bird Area program (https://importantbirdareasmb.ca) and am involved in a variety of Species At Risk conservation projects, including the Keep Grazing project for grassland Threatened species (http://www.mbbeef.ca/sarpal/). My PhD examined the effect of human density on Eastern Screech-Owls. I am passionate about citizen-science, avian monitoring and conservation. I have published many articles on Manitoba’s avifauna and am committed to public outreach, giving public presentations on natural history and conservation to a wide variety of audiences. I enjoy traveling and wildlife photography, having photographed over 3600 species of birds (my photos appear in many magazines & books). My photos are also viewable at https://inaturalist.ca/observations?place_id=any&user_id=chartuso&verifiable=any and https://www.flickr.com/photos/artuso
Amazing series of pictures.
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