What is this small yellow bird?

April 24, 2018 4:01 AM

This bird showed up on a bird table in Ireland today. The closest British Isles match I could find is a siskin, but siskins aren't that flat yellow colour. It's a closer match to the American Goldfinch, but isn't as bright as that (and is somewhat out of its usual territory). Any ideas?
posted by EndsOfInvention to Pets & Animals (15 answers total)

Response by poster: Just discovered that American goldfinches are brown in the winter and bright yellow in the summer so this could be halfway through changing its colouring, hence the pale yellow?
posted by EndsOfInvention at 4:18 AM on April 24, 2018 [1 favorite]

It's a dead ringer for the goldfinches that visit my yard here in Tennessee. I don't know Ireland's birds, though, so there may be a likelier candidate.
posted by workerant at 4:21 AM on April 24, 2018 [4 favorites]

Yeah, male American Goldfinches are definitely in the process of molting this time of year. What's more, their level of yellowness depends pretty strongly on what they've been eating, so the ones I'm seeing here in Connecticut these days have a lot of pale yellow feathers, interspersed with blotches of their winter coats.

According to Wiki's Birds of Ireland list, American Goldfinches are known to occur in Ireland, so it's not out of the question. (The "Category D" thing means that they are suspected to have been introduced to the island, rather than occurring naturally.)
posted by Johnny Assay at 4:41 AM on April 24, 2018 [4 favorites]

Looks like a goldfinch to me.
posted by COD at 4:42 AM on April 24, 2018

And doesn't look like a Goldfinch to me. Too fat, too fluffy. That could be camera fuzziness, though.
posted by SemiSalt at 5:12 AM on April 24, 2018 [1 favorite]

Best answer: To me it looks more like a singing canary that has escaped its home. I used to have canaries with a similar feather pattern to this one.
posted by leopard-skin pill-box hat at 5:25 AM on April 24, 2018 [5 favorites]

More specifically, it looks like a young singing canary, since its still a bit round and puffy and its tail feathers are still relatively short. Also, the picture is a bit unclear, but is that a ring around its left foot? Could also be a mark though.
posted by leopard-skin pill-box hat at 5:29 AM on April 24, 2018

I highly doubt it could be an American Goldfinch. The Siskin you mention is one of the most common birds in Ireland--in the top 20. Everything I can see in that photo is consistent with a Siskin.

Meanwhile there are no examples of the American Goldfinch in Avibase outside of North America (and some Caribbean islands pretty close in to Florida).

Actually I feel comfortable saying "no way, no how" to it being an American Goldfinch.
posted by Stewriffic at 7:07 AM on April 24, 2018 [1 favorite]

That's definitely not an American goldfinch. I agree that it looks more like an escaped canary than a siskin.
posted by elsietheeel at 7:30 AM on April 24, 2018

Another vote for canary that's escaped its cage or aviary. IIRC they're not required to be ringed as they're not a native species (although it does look like it might have a ring - so hard to tell from a photo)
posted by missmagenta at 7:55 AM on April 24, 2018 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I had a Gloster canary once that was a dead ringer for that photo, except with a very pronounced Beatle-haircut crest that she could barely see through. So, another vote for escaped canary.
posted by Devoidoid at 9:01 AM on April 24, 2018

Another vote for canary.
posted by The otter lady at 9:12 AM on April 24, 2018

Response by poster: Update: A video of the mystery bird - apparently it's quite tame, so an escaped canary seems likely.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 10:20 AM on April 24, 2018 [1 favorite]

Best answer: GREAT catch with the video! It's much easier with the video to see some key things to rule out both the American Goldfinch and the Eurasian Siskin--color is clearly wrong, wings are wrong, tail is wrong, belly is wrong. I didn't feel confident making that call with the prior images. Birds can look so so different in a snapshot from frame to frame. So yeah, some kind of introduced exotic or escaped pet is my only guess here. Wild!
posted by Stewriffic at 10:31 AM on April 24, 2018 [1 favorite]

Haven't a clue what it is, but I have retweeted your video @BirdWatchIre they might be able to shed some light.
posted by Fence at 11:21 AM on April 24, 2018 [2 favorites]