Timiskaming Birds Forum

I just discovered that Pam Yantha saw a European Goldfinch at her Englehart feeder on November 5, 2007.  The bird was with a small flock of 7 or 8 red-winged blackbirds - it always arrived and left with the blackbirds. It appeared at the feeder several times over a period of a day-and-a-half.  And she got pictures!  This is not only a new species for Timiskaming, but also a new species for Ontario!  I will be preparing an OBRC report today and sending it down for review.  I will keep you posted on the results of the review.  Congratulations, Pam, on an Ontario first!

wow that is amazing will look forward to hearing the report I thought there was documentation of european goldfinches in ontario. There was a fellow from the MNR in northbay that sent me a note that he had seen one in northbay years ago but had no photo and I thought I have seen them mentioned from time to time on ontbirds.

You're correct.  I did a little more digging and found that there have been a number of sightings of European Goldfinches over the years; one in Ottawa in 2002, one in Brampton in 2000, etc.  I based my "new to Ontario" conclusion on the fact that this species does not appear on the Ontario checklist.  As it turns out, all of the previous sightings have been assumed to be escapees - since this species is often sold in pet stores.  We'll just have to wait to see what conclusions they make about this sighting.

Hi Mike,
I guess I better get  a list to you. I had a European Goldfinch here in Gowganda from November 17-2004 to
January 29-2005. Have pictures and some great ones from someone who came to see the EUGO all the way from New York.
He was kind enough to send me some good pictures he took.
Also , in 2003 Lorne  and Inez from Kenabeek had a EUGO and also a P& J Smith in Sudbury had a EUGO in 2003 as well..
.so Mike...seems as European Goldfinches are not as rare in the north as you thought . Will get a list to you soon. Regards, Gert

Just a note on European Goldfinches that I found out a couple of years ago. After talking to Alan Wormington, they are all considered escapes in Ontario. There have been quite a few in the Timiskaming area in the last couple of years. OBRC does not cosider any Ontario sightings as  wild birds. When I return home in May, I can probably round up some of the e-mail correspondence that I have on the subject.

Barry

It's funny because I can't believe that so many people in the north loses their pet birds.  If they really are escapes, there should be a lot more around big cities like Montreal or Toronto than deep in the woods.  That being said, I understand that our knowledge is based only on what happened in the past, when they use to be very common in pet shops.

http://www.oiseauxqc.org/details.jsp?no=8981.0.  On that page you will find 82 mentions of that bird in Qc.  Add 2 more for here, one in Belleterre and one in Nédélec last year.  You will also see that it's listed as Occasional visitor, with one nesting occurence in Montreal.  Maybe they are all escaped birds, but it's hard to believe to me...!  Bye