Chant Chardonneret

The Goldfinch is a small sparrow, a size smaller than a sparrow and easy to recognize. Indeed, the adult has a blood red face and a large lemon-yellow area on the wing. There is a slight sexual dimorphism, so to speak, not obvious. The male has a red face that overflows the eye backwards while in the female, the red stops at eye level. The rest of the head is black and white. The dark eye is included in a black lorale area. The spout regularly conical, is pale pink. The top of the body (mantle, back and scapulars) is brown-buff, except rump and upper tail are white, which is well seen in the bird in flight. Brown wins the top sides of the chest where it forms two visible pectoral spots and flanks, while the rest of the underside is white. Wings and tail are black with white spots on the wing and tail feathers. The wide yellow band which intersects the wing in half lengthwise is very visible on the bird during flight. The legs are pink or pinkish depending on the season.

The juvenile is recognized as the goldfinch yellow band of wing and is distinguished easily from the adult to the lack of red in the face. In addition, the head and below the body are white beige and finely streaked with brown.

The birds of the eastern subspecies, or caniceps subulata have the head and over the body of a rather pale gray-brown.