Autumn Color Changes - Goldfinches

Goldfinches & lone Chickadee

I have been away from home most of the past three weeks - Argentina one week; Texas the next; and Georgia this past one. Before heading to Georgia, I had Friday and Saturday nights at home, so a day to watch the back yard. The leaves were starting to show a faint bit of color change three weeks ago, but when returning from South America, the most noticeable affect was the American Goldfinch - many were taking on the winter brown coloration - one or two males still shined their bright yellow feathers, but the brown shading was more prevalent. The finches took to their seed feeder once I had cleaned out the caked seeds that had be swamped by all of the heavy rain storms - four, sometimes five at a time were perched on the screened perimeter. One male was particularly territorial - keeping all other comers at bay. He would chirp and dart at the intruder - chasing him away, and then return to his feeding spot. Once that male was finished and had flown away, others would later have their feast. A lone Black-capped Chickadee kept trying to get a foothold among the finches - lighting on the hanging flower basket nearby or on the cable supporting the hanging feeder - but to no avail. A journal article I came across described the male Goldfinches with the brightest yellow feathers as being the most dominant - the yellow color being the result of eating lots of carotenoid pigment from seeds in their diet. The brightest yellow males are the most dominant. Maybe the lateness of the coloring is also a sign of dominance - a signal to lesser avians to slow down while approaching, like at a busy intersection before the light turns red.