last to lay

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Now that the thistles are starting to produce their seeds, the American goldfinches can get down to nesting—or down "for" nesting—depending on how you want to phrase it. Its the last species in our area to nest in the calendar year, in part because they wait on such plant fibers to become available.


Although the flashy male may help a bit, it's a token effort; the real nest-building duties fall on the less-colorful but harder working female. Located in a deciduous tree up to about 30-feet above the ground, the outer shell is built of vines, bark, grass and weeds; the rim reinforced with spider and caterpillar silk and the cup is lined with the fluffy plant down from milkweed, thistle or cattails.



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