Lawrence's Goldfinch Identification

The Four Keys to ID

• Size & Shape

  A small songbird with a small, conical bill, a short tail with a slight fork or notch, and broad wings.

  Relative Size

  Slightly larger than a Lesser Goldfinch, slightly smaller than an American Goldfinch.

  sparrow-sized or smaller

  Measurements

  • Both Sexes
  • • Length: 3.9-4.7 in (10-12 cm)
    • Weight: 0.3-0.5 oz (9-14 g)
    • Wingspan: 8.3 in (21 cm)

  © Brian Sullivan / Macaulay Library

• Color Pattern

  Breeding adult males are mostly gray with yellow on the breast, upper belly, wings, and back. The chin and forecrown are black. Females are similar but brown above, with no black in the face, and less yellow in the plumage. Nonbreeding adult males are similar to breeding males but browner above, less extensively yellow below. Juveniles are mostly brownish, similar to female but with much less yellow in wings and breast.

• Behavior

  Forages and roosts in flocks, usually low in weedy fields or chaparral. Perches in seed-bearing plants, where the bird extract seeds nimbly with the bill, often hanging upside-down. Often joins other seed-eating species in mixed flocks during the winter, especially other finches and sparrows.
• Habitat

  Nests in open oak woodlands with scattered meadows, weedy fields, or chaparral as long as there is a source of freshwater nearby. Migrants and wandering flocks in the nonbreeding season use similar habitats, including coastal scrub, pinyon pine–juniper woodlands, thickets, desert arroyos, cultivated fields, orchards, gardens, and parks.