The Avant-Garden Shop: Your Garden & Bird Store

American Goldfinches in Fall: Missing, migrating or hiding in plain sight?

  Are your goldfinches packing their migratory bags, have they already headed south or are they only changing into winter clothing? The answer could be any or all of the above. Adult male in pre-breeding plumage, April 2025/photo credit: David M A O’Neill from Facebook The American Goldfinch (AGOL) spends the entire breeding season (May … Read more

GARDEN GATE: Episode 324 – Feeding American Goldfinches – (Aug 29, 2025)

This summer there sure have been a lot of American Goldfinches at the feeders! These birds are such a joy to watch and hear their sweet songs. They are nesting right now and feed their young seeds, so they really appreciate you keeping your feeders full and clean. The finch tube feeders from Aspects in … Read more

What We Need to Know About Feed (aka Not All Seeds Are Created Equal)

Many important factors determine the quality of bird seed. At the Avant-Garden shop, our customers tell us again and again that after switching from cheap big box store seeds to the quality feed they find at our shop, they see immediate improvement in bird activity and variety at their feeders.    The majority of the … Read more

GARDEN GATE: Episode 237 – So many finches (Mar 25, 2022)

This year we’re seeing large numbers of finches. American Goldfinch, Common Redpolls, Pine Siskens, House finches etc. These birds love nyger seed. But it needs to be fresh. And they like feeders with the little holes in them. This also help to keep seed dry and bully birds from throwing everything on the ground. Learn … Read more

All that Glitters IS Gold

American Goldfinches are the latest-breeding songbird species in this area. They molt their feathers a second time in the summer, which is unusual for most bird species and leads to increasingly bright colours as the season progresses. Their song is a cheerful musical babbling, and their flight call – po-ta-to chip! po-ta-to chip! – is … Read more

Garden Tips: All that Glitters is Gold(finches)

The Peterborough area is blessed with an abundance of American Goldfinches, which some people call Wild Canaries. Male Goldfinches are a rich lemon-yellow, with black wings, a black tail, and a black “toupee.” Females are a paler yellow and lack the toupee (perhaps the males struggle with male pattern baldness?). Goldfinches alternate between flapping their … Read more

Garden Gate: Episode 101 – Migrating birds at the feeder (Drew Monkman guest)

CHEX TV airdate: Friday Oct. 28th between 5 and 5:30pm. Click link to watch this episode online. Now is the time to keep your bird feeders full of quality fresh bird food! Migrating birds are more apt to drop by and visit your feeders if they are clean and full. They may drop by for … Read more

Garden Gate: Episode 86 – Pine Siskins with guest Drew Monkman

Chex TV airdate: April 1st, 2016 Click link to watch this episode online. Local Naturalist and author Drew Monkman is my guest on this episode. Drew helps us understand why we’ve had so many Pine Siskins at our feeders this year. He also points out the differences between Pine Siskins and Gold finches. These two … Read more

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