[EUROPEAN GOLDFINCH]

Carduelis carduelis

Status:  No accepted records.

Taxonomy: Ten subspecies are recognized in the native European range following split of four Asian subspecies as C. caniceps Grey-crowned Goldfinch (AviList 2025).

Comments: One was reported without details at a feeder in Scribner, Dodge Co 13 and 17 Feb 1996 (Carson 1996).

This species is listed by AOU (1998); it has been widely introduced in the US without success and the widely scattered reports are “almost certainly” of escaped cage birds. The single population that might have been established, on Long Island, New York, is probably extirpated (AOU 1983). More recently, however, this species may be establishing in parts of Illinois and Wisconsin as a result of a release by a bird importer in Chicago, as well as in the New York area and elsewhere mostly in the northeastern US; eBird.org (accessed Jul 2025) shows numerous records in these areas, and it seems likely that strays from these populations might occur in Nebraska associated with American Goldfinches dispersing or migrating from those areas. The five records along the Front Ranges in Colorado and Wyoming show no seasonal pattern (eBird.org, accessed Jul 2025), as might be expected from escaped cage birds.

Literature Cited

American Ornithologists’ Union [AOU]. 1983. The AOU Check-list of North American birds, 6th ed. Allen Press, Lawrence, Kansas, USA.

American Ornithologists’ Union [AOU]. 1998. The AOU Check-list of North American birds, 7th ed.  Allen Press, Lawrence, Kansas, USA.

AviList Core Team, 2025. AviList: The Global Avian Checklist, v2025. https://doi.org/10.2173/avilist.v2025.

Carson, E. 1996. Merlin, European Goldfinch, and other species. NBR 64: 35.

Recommended Citation

Silcock, W.R., and J.G. Jorgensen.  2025.  European Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis). In Birds of Nebraska — Online. www.BirdsofNebraska.org

Birds of Nebraska – Online

Updated 22 Jul 2025