Spring in the Country
by Nava Thompson
Title
Spring in the Country
Artist
Nava Thompson
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
A photo taken by Nava Jo Thompson of an American Goldfinch posing in a tree with springtime blooms.....Arkansas........The American Goldfinch is a small bird........ The beak is small, conical, and pink for most of the year, but turns bright orange with the spring molt in both sexes.... The shape and size of the beak aid in the extraction of seeds from the seed heads of thistles, sunflowers, and other plants.........The American Goldfinch undergoes a molt in the spring and autumn. It is the only cardueline finch to undergo a molt twice a year.......During the winter molt it sheds all its feathers; in the spring, it sheds all but the wing and tail feathers, which are dark brown in the female and black in the male.......The markings on these feathers remain through each molt, with bars on the wings and white under and at the edges of the short, notched tail.......The sexual dimorphism displayed in plumage coloration is especially pronounced after the spring molt, when the bright color of the male's summer plumage is needed to attract a mate........American Goldfinch callOnce the spring molt is complete, the body of the male is a brilliant lemon yellow, a color produced by carotenoid pigments from plant materials in its diet,.....with a striking jet black cap and white rump that is visible during flight.........The female is mostly brown, lighter on the underside with a yellow bib...... After the autumn molt, the bright summer feathers are replaced by duller plumage, becoming buff below and olive-brown above, with a pale yellow face and bib. The autumn plumage is almost identical in both sexes, but the male has yellow shoulder patches.......... In some winter ranges, the goldfinches lose all traces of yellow, becoming a predominantly medium tan-gray color with an olive tinge evident only on close viewing.......The immature American Goldfinch has a dull brown back, and the underside is pale yellow. The shoulders and tail are dull black with buff-colored, rather than white, markings on wings and rump. This coloration is the same in both genders......The song of the American Goldfinch is a series of musical warbles and twitters, often with a long note. A tsee-tsi-tsi-tsit call is often given in flight; it may also be described as per-chic-o-ree......... While the female incubates the eggs, she calls to her returning mate with a soft continuous teeteeteeteete sound. The young begin to use a call of chick-kee or chick-wee shortly before fledging, which they use until they have left the nest entirely.....There are two defense calls made by adults during nesting; a sweeet call made to rally other goldfinches to the nest and distract predators, and a bearbee used to signal to the nestlings to quiet them and get them to crouch down in the nest to become less conspicuous.
Uploaded
April 27th, 2013
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Viewed 958 Times - Last Visitor from New York, NY on 03/26/2024 at 2:52 AM
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Comments (83)
Jennifer White
Congratulations your wonderful photo has been featured in the Ozarks Photo and Art Collection Group. You are invited to post your featured image in the featured image discussion thread as a permanent place to continue to get exposure even after the image is no longer on the Home Page.
Luther Fine Art
Congratulations! Your fantastic photographic art has been chosen as a Camera Art Group feature! You are invited to archive your work in the Features Archive discussion as well as any other discussion in which it would fit.
Mariola Bitner
Congratulations on your outstanding artwork! It has been chosen to be FEATURED in the group “500 VIEWS.”
William Tasker
Thank you for submitting this fine shot and correctly named bird to Wild Birds Of The World - A Nature Photography Group, where it is now featured on the home page. L/F
John M Bailey
Congratulations on your feature in the Fine Art America Group "Images That Excite You!"
Don Columbus
Congratulations Nava, your work is Featured in "Birds In Focus" I invite you to place it in the group's "2019 Featured Image Archive" Discussion!! L/Tweet
Don Columbus
Congratulations Nava, your work is Featured in "A Birding Group - Wings" I invite you to place it in the group's "2019 Featured Image Archive" Discussion!! L/Tweet