The Story
This male Lesser Goldfinch (Spinus psaltria) perched on a twig at the wastewater treatment ponds of Santa Rosa de Copán, Honduras, his black cap and back over bright yellow underparts. Males from Texas south to northern South America are black-backed like this, while far-western birds are green-backed. At about 9 to 12 centimeters it may be the smallest true finch in the world. Its song is a long warble or twitter that often borrows phrases from other birds. IUCN lists it as Least Concern. Males have a black forehead, which females lack.
I photographed him with a Canon R5 and the RF 800mm f/11 plus the RF 1.4x extender, at 1/90 sec, f/16, ISO 1600. The treatment ponds are one of the COAS Copán club’s birding routes.
©2022 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Lesser Goldfinch (Spinus psaltria) belongs to the family Fringillidae (Finches, Euphonias, and Allies) in the eBird/Clements taxonomy.
Source: eBird.org (opens in a new tab)
Conservation
Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (assessment published 2018), with the population trend listed as decreasing. Source: IUCN Red List