A goldfinch is a small songbird with brilliant yellow feathers, about the size of your fist. During summer, the male American goldfinch looks like a little burst of sunshine with its bright yellow body, black cap, and black-and-white wings. Females wear more subtle yellow-olive colors. In winter, both fade to a duller brownish-yellow that helps them blend in.

Goldfinches love eating seeds, especially from plants like sunflowers, thistles, and dandelions. Watch one land on a drooping flower stem: it clings to the swaying plant and expertly picks out seeds with its small, cone-shaped beak. Their undulating flight pattern (flying in a wavelike up-and-down motion) and cheerful per-chick-o-ree call make them easy to identify.

Unlike most songbirds that nest in spring, goldfinches wait until midsummer when thistle plants produce the fluffy down they use to line their nests. They're common across North America and happily visit backyard feeders. Many people hang special thistle seed feeders hoping to attract these cheerful yellow visitors.