Just a fun aside. American Goldfinches (AMGO) are strictly "vegetarian", so if a Brown Cowbird lays one of its eggs in an AMGO nest, when that cowbird egg hatches, that nestling will starve within two-three days.
Talk about an effective solution to parasitic egg laying....

Christine Southwick
N Seattle/Shorelilne
Clsouthwick at q.com

From: Tweeters [mailto:tweeters-bounces at mailman11.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Scott Ramos
Sent: Wednesday, August 15, 2018 7:41 AM
To: Tweeters Newsgroup
Subject: [Tweeters] Herbivorous American Goldfinch

The other day while at Magnuson Park, I observed a small flock of American Goldfinch feeding in the pond scum while hanging on to branches above the water. At first, I thought they were picking seeds off the water but closer looks revealed they were eating some sort of pond grass. BNA comments that they are primarily granivorous but there are reports of them eating green algae. A reminder that most birds are opportunists.

https://youtu.be/n3biNP6vmdo

Scott Ramos
Seattle

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