Happy Mystery Monday! 
Can you guess what is pictured in photo #1?
The answer to last week’s mystery is the American goldfinch, Spinus tristis pictured in photo #2.
The American goldfinch, Spinus tristis, is one of the most colorful and musical songbirds in North America. During the breeding season, it ranges from southern Canada down into the eastern United States, favoring open habitats such as meadows, floodplains, roadsides, orchards, and weedy fields. Unlike many birds, goldfinches often sing in flight, their bright, lilting calls drifting overhead as they rise and dip through the air.
Males are especially striking in summer, glowing in vibrant yellow plumage with contrasting black accents, while in winter they molt into a more subdued olive tone. Built for a seed-based diet, goldfinches have short, conical bills and agile feet that allow them to cling to swaying stems and pluck seeds from flower heads. They feed heavily on seeds year-round, occasionally adding small insects like aphids and caterpillars during the breeding season, and are frequent visitors to feeders stocked with niger (thistle) seed.
Generally monogamous, American goldfinches produce a single brood each year, timing their nesting later than most songbirds to coincide with peak seed availability. Widespread and adaptable, they bring color, song, and motion to fields and gardens alike, especially where native plants are allowed to go to seed.
Mystery Monday is sponsored by the Spy Newspapers and Adkins Arboretum.
