This summer, while doing some garden clean-up, I came across this tiny exquisite nest in one of our trees and did some research on what bird could build such a fine little home.
Turns out, it’s a Goldfinch, sometimes called a Wild Canary, which we see all the time flitting around the house.
Interestingly, Goldfinches are strict vegetarians, known for their all-seed diet, making them one of the strictest vegetarians in the bird world.
Here’s what I found out about the nest. Goldfinch nest building is characterized by the female’s solitary, late-summer efforts to construct a compact, cup-shaped nest, typically about 3 inches wide, exactly like I am holding, in a shrub or tree fork using fibres, spider silk, and a downy lining from plants like thistles and milkweed. These watertight tightly weaved nests can often even hold water, and the timing of their construction coincides with the peak abundance of thistle seeds, which provide both food and nesting materials for the birds.
The outer shell is made from fibres from dead trees, weeds, vines, and grasses, which you can clearly see below. Fine little twigs somehow twisted into circular shapes surrounding the soft inner core. The rim is reinforced with flexible fibres – which can also be seen in the photos – from sources like spider webs or strands of milkweed and the interior is lined with the soft, fluffy down from plants like thistles, milkweed, and cattails.
I was so impressed with this little piece of workmanship that I had to post this.
Right on our own property. The things I find daily by continuing to slow my life down…
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