How you can help
By watching your feeder and recording any banded goldfinches you can help us determine how far goldfinches move and how well they are surviving. After you see a banded goldfinch, report it to us, telling us which bands you saw, where it was seen, and your contact information. This information will never be shared with anyone, and is only collected in case there are questions about your sighting. If you would prefer, you can call us at 775-784-7725 to report your sighting.
Our study
This study is designed to look at several aspects of goldfinch ecology. Relatively little is known about either species of goldfinch despite their ubiquity and popularity at North American bird feeders. Primarily, we will be examining Lesser Goldfinches (Spinus psaltria), however we will band American Goldfinches (Spinus tristis) when possible.
Specifically we hope to look at movement patterns around the greater Reno/Sparks metropolitan area and overwinter survival. In other words, do you always have the same birds at your feeder, or is it a revolving door? By uniquely color banding individuals, we can monitor how frequently they use the same feeder, and how far they travel to forage.
We will see if survival is correlated with feeder use in goldfinches. The increased food availability provided by backyard feeders may help increase survival, but increased flocking may increase disease and parasite rates.
This project will rely on public participation to resight and report banded individuals as they travel throughout the Truckee Meadows, so if you have seen a banded goldfinch, please click below:
