I’ve been lucky lately to spend a good part of my day looking out on a stand of sunflowers. They weren’t planted, as far as I know—just sprung up from natural seed. And one thing they do is attract a number of bird species as near as twelve or fifteen feet from my window.

House Finches frequent the gone-by sunflowers, as do Black-capped Chickadees. But perhaps the species most drawn to the seeds is the local brand of goldfinch.

For decades when I heard “goldfinch” my brain pulled up the look and sound of an American Goldfinch, the common eastern species. For the past year, though, “goldfinch” has meant the western Lesser Goldfinch. I’m still getting to know these interesting, entertaining birds.

Between the species are similarities and differences—plumage, voice, flight calls, behavior. Contrasting the two, surprisingly, has made me appreciate us humans’ innate ability to compare. It’s a thing we do on a daily basis without even thinking about it.

Thank you, Nature, for the goldfinch.

Grandeur Peak Area List
Beginning at 8:05 a.m., I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.

1. Mourning Dove
2. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay
3. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
4. Black-chinned Hummingbird
5. House Finch**
6. Rock Pigeon
7. Spotted Towhee
8. Black-capped Chickadee
9. Broad-tailed Hummingbird
10. Red-breasted Nuthatch
11. Black-headed Grosbeak (v)
12. Cooper’s Hawk

Elsewhere

13. Lesser Goldfinch
14. Black-billed Magpie
15. House Sparrow
16. Northern Flicker (v)

(v) Voice only
**Voice only elsewhere