Lesser Goldfinch, Spinus psaltria

Lesser Goldfinch, Spinus psaltria hesperophilus, Female. Photograph taken within a residential community in Hereford, Arizona, June 2016. Photograph and identification courtesy of Bob Behrstock, Sierra Vista, Arizona (naturewideimages.com).

Lesser Goldfinch, Spinus psaltria hesperophilus, Male. Photograph taken within a residential community in Hereford, Arizona, May 2021. Photograph and identification courtesy of Bob Behrstock, Sierra Vista, Arizona (naturewideimages.com).

Lesser Goldfinch, Spinus psaltria hesperophilus, Male. Photograph taken within the greater Palm Springs area of southern California, March 2021. Photography courtesy of Dr. Tom Bartol, Carlsbad, California.

Background and Identification

The Lesser Goldfinch, Spinus psaltria hesperophilus, is one of five subspecies of Lesser Goldfinch, all five of which are found in Mexico. They are a member of the Fringillidae Family of Finches, Euphonias and Allies, which has two hundred forty-nine members placed in forty-nine genera, and one of twenty global species of the Spinus Genus. They are known in Mexico as jilguero menor.

The Lesser Goldfinch is small in stature and the smallest member of the North American genus Spinus. The sexes have different plumage color that are retained year-round. The females are smaller than males. The adult males have a green back, glossy black foreheads and crowns, black wings, with a large white patch at the base of the primaries, and the greater coverts tipped with white or pale gray. Their underparts are olive green to glossy black with bright canary yellow underparts. The females lack the black forehead and bright yellow underparts.

Habitat and Geographical Range

The Lesser Goldfinch is known as a song bird and is found in small groups in a wide variety of habitats that include open pine, pine-oak, or other woodlands with small clearings, woodland edges or open country with scattered trees or thickets, and weedy fields, gardens, orchards, hedgerows and agricultural fields and suburban habitats at elevations up to 2,200 m (7,200 feet). They consume buds, flowers, fruits and seeds and a few insects. They forage in flocks in the winter. They breed in loose colonies, defending their territories, with the male feeding the female on the nest throughout incubation. They have life spans of up to six years. The Lesser Goldfinch is poorly studied and very little has been documented about their biology and behavioral patterns.

The Lesser Goldfinch is found throughout Mexico with large populations in Baja California and Sonora, Nuevo León south to central Oaxaca and in Tamaulipas. The hesperophilus subspecies is found in northwest Mexico in the states of Baja California and Sonora. They are considered to be non-migratory but will make altitude migrations during the winter months.

Common Misidentifications

Conservation Status

From a conservation perspective the Lesser Goldfinch is currently considered to be of Least Concern with stable, widely distributed populations. Their populations have benefited from human development with a significant expansion in their populations northward. Their long-term survival is threatened by the loss of grasslands, riparian areas, and riverine habitats in arid parts due to human developments. They are utilized by the Cage Bird Trade.