Lesser Goldfinch
Spinus psaltria
Lesser Goldfinch · San Diego Botanic Garden · 7 March 2026
A male Lesser Goldfinch in a San Diego garden, in the green-backed form found along the California coast rather than the black-backed birds that take over further east into Texas and Mexico. It is the goldfinch of the West, a bird of dry scrub and gardens from Oregon to Peru.
The black cap stops at the nape instead of running the full length of the back. Smallest of the American goldfinches, and it keeps this plumage year-round rather than moulting into something duller for winter the way its eastern relative does.
Birds, insects, plants and other wildlife, mostly from Brooklyn, with some from further afield.
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