Goldfinches appreciate a nice patch of seedy plants

It was at the farmers market that I learned that Forsyth County may be facing a zinnia crisis this summer. Jane, who occupies a flower stand at the Downtown Farmers Market and at the Dixie Classic Fair Farmers Market, always greets me and my wife with a warm smile. But on a recent Saturday, her eyes narrowed and she took on a more serious tone as she informed me, "Birds are eating all my zinnias." It seems that goldfinches have been visiting Jane's flower farm by the dozens, attracted to her several rows of zinnias, where they pick the flowers apart for their seeds.

Now, there have been several bird species over the years that have been notorious for damaging crops. Blackbirds sometimes amass in flocks of tens of thousands and have been known to cause considerable damage to sunflower farms in the Midwest. The Carolina Parakeet was hunted to extinction by 1914, mainly because of its habit of damaging fruit and corn crops across its range in the eastern United States.

A special relationship

But goldfinches?! The American Goldfinch, sometimes known as the wild canary, is one of our best-known and best-loved songbirds. It is migratory in the north, but a year-round resident in our state. This will come as a surprise to some birdwatchers, since goldfinches seem to disappear for part of the year. During fall and much of the winter, this bird wears a drab plumage that makes it hard to recognize as the same bright bird of the summertime. During the breeding season, the male is conspicuous and unmistakable. He is bright yellow with a black cap, tail and wings, and an orange bill and legs. The female is yellowish, but more restrained than the male.

Goldfinches nest much later than most songbirds. While other species are well under way in April and May, goldfinches don't begin nesting until late June. The reason is the goldfinch's unique relationship with a certain group of wildflowers: the thistles. Many readers are familiar with the pretty purple flower-head and offensive spiny leaves of this wildflower along roadsides and in fields. There are several native species and several alien species, including the floral emblem of Scotland, the Scotch Thistle. The needlelike spines of these plants evolved to protect them from browsing by herbivorous animals. But the tiny goldfinch can alight on the flower-head, impervious to the leaf spines, and pick out seeds and thistledown.

The silky down of this plant, the related dandelion, milkweed and cattail are used to line their nests. These downy fibers are how the plants disperse their seeds. Both thistledown and the attached seed are so light that a breeze can carry them far away from the parent plant. Once goldfinches have finished building nests, they no longer collect the thistledown but continue to visit the plant, separating down from seeds, which they eat and feed to their nestlings.

Goldfinches are among the easiest birds to attract to your backyard or garden, but you don't have to plant thistle to attract them. Thistle seed, also known as niger or nyger, is available in local birding stores and hardware stores, as are the special feeders it requires. These seeds are sterilized, so you can offer them without worrying about seeds growing into lots of spiny plants. Goldfinches like sunflower seeds, too. And, as my friend Jane has learned, they love a nice patch of zinnias.

■ Bird's-Eye View is a joint column by Ron Morris and Phil Dickinson. Today's column was written by Morris. Morris retired after 24 years as curator at the N.C. Zoo. He has studied birds around the world and is currently the vice president of the Audubon Society of Forsyth County. Dickinson is a legal writer. He has been an active birder for 15 years, and is a past president of the Audubon Society of Forsyth County and chairs the conservation committee. If you have a birding question or story idea, write to Bird's-Eye View in care of Features, Winston-Salem Journal, P.O. Box 3159, Winston-Salem, N.C. 27101-3159, or send an e-mail to birding@wsjournal.com. Please type "birds" in the subject line.