Winter is fast approaching and many birds are preparing for its arrival. Many song birds have already started their journey to the southern U.S., Central and South America where insects abound.

The birds that remain behind to face the winter must bulk up on as many seeds as they can find to form a fat layer to keep warm. Goldfinches gobble thistle seeds, cone flower seeds and wild grass seeds for stored energy.

One of the most interesting ways goldfinches prepare for the winter is to replace their golden feathers with gray feathers. This helps them blend in with the gray winter woods. If you examine the pictures closely, you can see the beginnings of the gray feathers. By winter they change from a golden yellow to a drab gray.

One of the goldfinches’ favorite food is thistle seed that you can purchase and put in thistle feeders in your backyard. You may even attract house and purple finches as well. This will help them survive the brutal winter temperatures and snow covered ground that cuts food off to them.