Lesser Goldfinch, evening light
Spinus psaltria
Lesser Goldfinch · San Diego Botanic Garden · 7 March 2026
A Lesser Goldfinch in the day's last warm light at the rim of a garden fountain in San Diego, a reliable draw for finches through a dry afternoon. It is the goldfinch of the West, of dry scrub and gardens from Oregon to Peru, and the smallest goldfinch in North America.
Barely larger than a bushtit, and a mimic: its song borrows phrases from a dozen other birds, and a bird singing in a San Diego garden will often be quoting the towhees and wrens around it.
Birds, insects, plants and other wildlife, mostly from Brooklyn, with some from further afield.
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