The Daily Bucket is a regular feature of the Backyard Science group. It is a place to note any observations you have made of the world around you. Insects, weather, meteorites, climate, birds and/or flowers. All are worthy additions to the bucket. Please let us know what is going on around you in a comment. Include, as close as is comfortable for you, where you are located.
Jim bought a new thistle feeder recently. Hung a few feet from the house, the feeder is a mesh bag. The holes allow the birds to latch on with their feet, and to pick the seed out. The goldfinches took to it right away, often gathering with three or four at a time on the bag.
The first time I remember seeing goldfinches was in Michigan, on a road trip with Jim early in our marriage. (You're right; I hadn't been paying attention before that.) Seems like it was Traverse City but I could be wrong about that. A home had many feeders in the yard, and the birds swooped in with their roller coaster flight, stopping at the feeders for a moment, and curving away again.
Now I know that sine wave is one of the easiest ways to identify the birds in flight. They populate our neighborhood and our yard all year, though most thickly in summer.
Someone commented recently about different species of birds flocking together. According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Goldfinches often flock with Pine Siskins and Common Redpolls. Spring males are brilliant yellow and shiny black with a bit of white. Females and all winter birds are more dull but identifiable by their conical bill; pointed, notched tail; wingbars; and lack of streaking. During molts they look bizarrely patchy.
The range map on the Cornell site shows that it is a North American bird, ranging in summer into Canada and in winter into eastern Mexico. In Iowa they hang out year round.
An Audubon image of finches shows the difference in color for male and female birds. The female is shown on the right, with the "unripe" coloring. This is also the winter coloring for all goldfinches.
What natural things are going on in your neighborhood today?