Date: 5/14/26 9:40 am From: Joseph Neal <0000078cbd583d7c-dmarc-request...> Subject: Lesser Goldfinches with green backs
A few thoughts to share with Arkansas birders about LESSER GOLDFINCH. We have roughly a dozen or so records for the species. There is a subspecies with green backs (S. p. hesperophilus) and the black subspecies (S. p. psaltria). Looking through eBird records with photographs, there seems a slight edge for green backs.
According to Cornell’s Birds of the World, distribution for hesperophilus is “Western United States (south from Washington, east to northern Utah and central Arizona) south to northwestern Mexico (Baja California and south to southern Sonora).” For psaltria, “West-central United States (Colorado and western Oklahoma) south to southern Mexico (central Veracruz and Oaxaca). Populations in the northern part of this breeding range are partially migratory.”
The bird currently visiting a feeder in south Fayetteville has a green back like the only Lesser Goldfinch known for Arkansas at the time of publication of Arkansas Birds (1986). If my impression is correct, growth of the Arkansas birding community has resulted in annual or nearly annual records for Lessers in the state.
“Overall, the very few examples of migratory movement support the concept of the Lesser Goldfinch as non-migratory over most of its range …” (Cornell). Based upon this, it appears Lessers we see in Arkansas involve birds maybe get mixed in with northbound flocks of migrating American Goldfinches.
