Lesser Goldfinch (juvenile male)

Description:

Generally, a small yellow and green bird, most often found in pairs or small flocks. The eastern, "black backed" form or morph occurs in Texas, with adult males black glossy underparts, white wing and tail patches and bright yellow underparts. The Lesser Goldfinch occurs year round in Texas.

Habitat:

Various semi-open habitats near water, mostly in oak woodland, chaparral and suburban along with rural edge habitats. They like to glean the ground and vegetation for seed and insects, attracted to salt licks, will visit bird baths, leaky garden hoses and feeders stocked with niger seed.

Notes:

We have a couple of bird feeders which they tend to visit in pairs or small flocks, especially in the winter months or in times of drought. This little guy is cooling off in my little front yard pond-less waterfall that we built and designed for the birds and our small dog to want to bathe in. Basically we filled the pond hole with rock but only an inch from the surface and keep the water level filled to the surface, just covering the rocks.