There are 3 widely spaced records of Lesser Goldfinch in Benton county,
Washington -December 1995, March 1999, November 2002

If Lesser Goldfinches are moving with American Goldfinch flocks in winter,
they may be more common but undetected.

Bill and Nancy LaFramboise
Richland WA

_____

From: inland-nw-birders-admin at uidaho.edu
[mailto:inland-nw-birders-admin at uidaho.edu] On Behalf Of Charles Swift
Sent: Wednesday, November 16, 2005 4:42 PM
To: inland-nw-birders at uidaho.edu
Subject: [inland-NW-birders]Lesser Goldfinch expansion in the upper Columbia
basin

Hi All -

Lesser Goldfinch is now a locally fairly common species along the Clearwater
River in Nez Perce County, ID, especially from Spalding Park upstream to
Orofino. Over 50 were recorded on the Lewiston-Clarkston CBC last year. A
nest was found near Orofino in 2004. So where did this population come from?
The first sighting in the area was only a few years ago (2002 perhaps?). It
is a more or less isolated group with the nearest populations being much
farther west in WA and a small population in southwest Idaho near Boise. A
few birds have also been showing up in Wallowa County over the past few
years.

Apparently enough individuals wandered into our area and found it to their
liking. It will be interesting to see if the species starts showing up
elsewhere in the region like Walla Walla bird just reported. Perhaps Lesser
Goldfinches are on the verge of a major expansion into the region. And like
the Bewick's Wren expansion over the past 10 years, the L. Goldfinch appears
to be expanding along riparian corridors. It could be interesting!

thanks, Charles.

--
Charles Swift
Moscow, ID
chaetura at gmail.com