Thanks for sharing Toni! That is really interesting that you have a couple
with this color variation as well.
Interesing that you said they seemed almost white. While looking at him I
said to myself is it white with a yellowish tinge to it then just like you
I said no he is a very light yellow. I hoping I'll see them again and maybe
get a picture, he is just so unique!
Stacy
Melrose
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Toni M <creekwood@xxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, May 27, 2015 at 3:06 PM
Subject: Re: [Umpqua Birds] Odd shade of Yellow for American Goldfinch
To: stacymb13@xxxxxxxxx
Stacey:
I have seen two American Gold Finches that seemed almost white, but were
really light yellow. They are good size, mature males, with normal dark
black markings.They are still here as of today. The one female looked
standard. They came last year for the first time. I looked at photos of AGF
mutations, but they were white, unlike these "pastel" birds.
Toni
So. Umpqua
*-------Original Message-------*
*From:* Stacy Burleigh <stacymb13@xxxxxxxxx>
*Date:* 05/27/15 14:07:13
*To:* UmpquaBirdList <umpquabirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
*Subject:* [Umpqua Birds] Odd shade of Yellow for American Goldfinch
Well, I did not see Matt's Baltimore Oriole this morning, not that I could
have distinquished anything other than an Oriole but I did see something
unusual for me anyway.
I had an American Gold Finch pair come into the waterfall to bathe and then
sat beautifully in my dwarf birch tree next to the pond. All was lit in
sun. Instead of being the usual bright neon yellow, the male other than
the usual dark black on its head and wings was completely pastel yellow? It
glowed in its own way. Also had the light colored bill. The female also
seemed more green than I would expect. Of course with my luck, I had just
come in from sitting in front of my camera for half an hour hoping
something cool would come in. So I went crazy watching them 30' feet away
from my front door through binocs for the 8-10 minutes it was there.
Actually they probably would have stayed longer, but my camera was still
set up and I attempted to get out the door to get to it but was not
successful.
I thought- is this a immature bird, but wouldn't the black not be so dark?
And if he was immature, would he already be paired up with a female? HAS
ANYONE ELSE HERE SEEN THIS COLORATION ?
Glorius, beautiful day today!!
Stacy Burleigh
Melrose
