Goldfinches, the Vegan Birds
Our Cup Plants (Silphium perfoliatum) are full of Goldfinches these days. Goldfinches love Cup Plant seeds. Also Echinacea seeds, Sunflower (Helianthus) seeds, and Thistle seed, among others. But of those 4, I only have Cup Plants.
Goldfinches eat seeds almost exclusively – they are vegan birds. Any insects consumed are eaten by accident.
Seeds are especially plentiful now, so the Goldfinches should be happy. The Cup Plant flowers have almost all become seed heads.
Though we are heading into autumn, the Goldfinches still have their bright yellow summer plumage.
In this picture you can see the Cup Plant seed in the Goldfinch’s beak. Getting photos of Goldfinches can be a challenge. They fly off every time we open the front door, which is close to the main patch of Cup Plant. To get these pictures I had to sit quietly on a lawn chair until the Goldfinches settled back onto the Cup Plant to resume their noshing.
Which seeds do the Goldfinches eat in your garden?
gardeninacity 
Tell me about the goldfinches scattering every time you open the door! But hunger wins. Lovely pictures. What I don’t understand is why my House Finches are attracted to my sedum plants, which are just flowering. I’ve watched them out my kitchen window foraging around but I’m not sure what they’re eating, maybe it’s more of a bug thing.
My Sedums have been overwhelmed by the Rudbeckias, so I can’t say.
You are so clever and patient to get these pictures of the goldfinch on the cup plant. I don’t often see goldfinches in my garden; perhaps because I’m not growing their favorite foods.
If you let the cup plant go to seed and if the goldfinches don’t eat them all, are they nuisance self-seeders?
Not too bad. I don’t find them difficult to control.
When the goldfinches arrive here in winter, one of their favorite treats seems to be seed from the crepe myrtle trees. Most people leave the dried pods on the trees until the birds have left, and it’s great fun to watch them hanging from the branches.
Interesting – I didn’t know that! How long do the hummingbirds stay around your area?
They start arriving in September, and the bulk of them come around October. By December or even mid-November they’re gone, depending on the weather and when a good north wind shows up. Some will stay year round, especially if feeders are up, but the advice being given more and more often is to get the feeders down once the absence of flocks is noticeable, so they don’t tempt birds to stay. Of course in spring we get them back. Their favored flowers will start blooming around April.
Okay. So I will sit myself outside tomorrow and wait for them all to alight on the black-eyed Susans. Again.
Good luck!
I didn’t know that goldfinches were vegans. The things I learn from my blogging friends. In our shady backyard, the finches, twittering loudly, flock to our feeders where they gobble down sunflower seeds.
Lots of birds love sunflower seeds – I’d say it’s the best single bird seed for feeders.
Sure is! I’ve tried other, more expensive seed mixes, and the little darlings won’t touch them. Sunflower seeds are what they want, so sunflower seeds are what they get.
Over here our Goldfinches are slightly different from yours, but still seed eaters. They love teasels, evening primrose and the sunflower hearts that are on the bird feeder.
Teasels are a bit like Thistle, aren’t they?
I took a picture of a goldfinch eating the blooms on the Russian Sage in my garden. I took the picture through the dirty diningroom windows. It wouldn’t have allowed me to step outside to get the picture. I was amazed. They often eat the petals off of Cone flowers too.
Interesting. I haven’t noticed that.
Lovely photos of the Goldfinch… In Queensland there are beautiful Gouldian Finches and they are endangered, and so the ones I saw where in a large aviary, eating lots of seeds. They are slightly smaller than your Finches and glorious in colour.
Now you’ve got me thinking about all the vegan birds in Australia…plenty!
Most seed and fruit eaters also eat some insects, at least in North America. The Goldfinch is an exception.
Sweet photos, thanks for your patience in taking them. I find they also like zinnia seeds, gobbled while the flower is still fresh and beautiful, as opposed to drying out.
I’ve heard others say that, though I haven’t seen it.
Such pretty birds! I haven’t seen many in my garden since I stopped putting out sunflower seed a few years ago. It’s nice to enjoy them vicariously through your pictures!
Sunflower seeds are a problem because the hulls accumulate and they contain a toxin that poisons plants. That’s why I switched to safflower.
They love the black oil sunflower seeds in my feeders.
Very true!
A favorite at my place in SW Illinois are purple coneflowers, but I also see them at Sunflowers and Cupplants. I don’t have them often at my feeders. I stopped buying and putting out thistle seed as they, like most of my feeder birds, preferred black oil sunflower seeds.
Yes, they definitely love purple coneflowers! I don’t grow them because coneflowers get aster yellows here.
Nice shots! Do yours stay through winter? I’m still seeing a few Lesser goldfinches at the early summer sunflowers. In the next few months, other things will produce seeds that they love. Isn’t it so fun to have these darling birds in the garden?
Yes, the Goldfinches here will stay through the winter. I love having them around.
Goldfinches by us gobbled up seeds of wild bergamot. They also eat seeds of anise hyssop and zinnias.
I do see them on the wild bergamot sometimes, also Joe Pye Weed and Ironweed. But I would say they are not the favorites.
No purple coneflowers? I would have sworn that you showed some that grew in your garden.
Years ago. I stopped growing them because of aster yellows.
Here they like the Gaillardia but also our native Salvia clevelandii which have plenty of seeds and nice strong stems to perch on and feed.
Enjoyed your photos of such a lovely bird. I think here we have the Lesser Goldfinch, not quite as brilliantly yellow but still happy to eat seeds.
Gaillardia doesn’t grow well for me – too much moisture, I think.
Your goldfinch looks pretty happy with dinner. I haven’t seen as many lately but this week observed a goldfinch swaying on the zinnias, some of which are going to seed. They love, love, love echinacea and verbena bonariensis.
I knew about the Echinacea, wasn’t aware of the Verbena.
Wonderful little birds and marvelous pictures. Ours are skittish too and feed exclusively on seeds.xxx
They are pretty skittish here as well. Only a few songbirds, like Chickadees, seem comfortable with people.
In my yard they love the coneflower seeds. I let all the plants go to seed and leave them up until spring for that reason. I enjoy the chirp Goldfinches make – it always makes me smile.
They definitely love coneflower seeds. I also love their song – kind of winsome, kind of plaintive.