Local, Colorful Fringillidae in Summer

     Fringillidae are a family of small birds that includes sparrows, finches, grosbeaks and other species.  Lancaster County, Pennsylvania has a small variety of colorful fringillidae that commonly breed in this area, including American goldfinches, house finches, indigo buntings, northern cardinals, blue grosbeaks and rufous-sided towhees.  The males of these species have striking plumages and lovely songs.  Females and young, however, are feathered more somberly for camouflage.  All these species consume varieties of seeds and invertebrates during summer.  And they all have thick beaks for cracking seeds to get the nutrition inside.
     Male goldfinches are yellow with black wings and tails and a jaunty, black cap set low on the forehead.  Females and young are olive with darker wings and tails.  The males resemble their mates during winter.  Happily for many people, goldfinches come to feeders the year around where they can be admired.
     Goldfinches are also attractive among the pink flowers of thistle plants as they eat thistle seeds in overgrown meadows and along roadsides.  They make the fluffy parachutes of the seeds float away on the breeze as they ingest the seeds.
     Goldfinches nest in July when thistles go to seed.  They use the fluff to line their dainty nests they build in the forks of young trees, often on lawns.  They also feed their young in the nest a porridge of pre-digested thistle seeds.
     Male house finches are gray and streaked, but also have pink feathers on their heads, backs and chests.  They also sing lovely songs by February each year, giving people hope that spring is on its way.  Female house finches and young of the year are gray and streaked without the pink for camouflage. 
     House finches are originally from the American west, but were brought east as cage birds for sale.  Some of them were released or escaped captivity, found each other in cities and towns and reared young.  Today they are common throughout the eastern United States.
     House finches nest in sheltering evergreen trees that were planted on lawns, and in sheltered places on buildings.  And these lovely little birds with the beautiful songs come to feeders through the year where their beauties are enjoyed.
     Indigo buntings are migrant small birds that nest in thickets in hedgerows and woodland edges in farmland in the eastern United States.   Breeding males have deep-blue plumages, but their mates and offspring are brown to blend into their surroundings. 
     Male indigos utter lovely songs from tree tops.  Their notes are twice repeated in series of notes that identify them.  Indigos often sing during hot afternoons when all other birds are silent.
     Most people are familiar with northern cardinals because they are common birds on lawns.  The permanent resident cardinals traditionally nest in thickets, but have adapted to shrubbery on lawns.  The males are bright red with a red crest and a black bib under the beak.  Females and young are gray with red in their wings and tails.  Adult females also have crests.
     Male cardinals sing from the tips of trees early in spring, including in city peoples' back yards.  Females build nests in shrubbery and often raise two broods a summer, with help from their mates.  Young of the year have dark bills, unlike the pink ones of their parents. 
     Blue grosbeak males are dark blue with two tan bars on each wing.  Their mates and the young of the year are brown with tan bars on their wings.  These grosbeaks nest in thickets of hedgerows in farmland and often are neighbors to indigo buntings.  Male blue grosbeaks sing pretty, warbling songs that identify them.  This species, like the indigos, retreat to Central America ahead of the approaching winter.
     Rufous-sided towhees are large sparrows.  Males are black on top, have rufous sides and white bellies.  Females and young are brown on top and have fainter rufous. 
     Towhees nest in the tangles of woodland edges where they are seldom seen.  But the males sing a distinctive song that, with our imagination, sounds like "drink-your-teeeeea".  Most towhees migrate farther south for the winter, but a few stay north where they live in thickets or lawn shrubbery and eat seeds from plants and at feeders.
     These are delightful small birds in plumage and songs that are a joy to experience.  And they can be spotted right at home and in nearby farmland.