Carduelis psaltria

Went to the DMV this afternoon to straighten out a two-month fiasco with my driver's license renewal. It is all resolved now, yay!

I was out in the parking lot afterwards when I noticed a flock of Lesser Goldfinches perched in an ornamental tree. This one here is a female--her strained disposition does well to reflect how blustery it was out there this afternoon. The rain continues, but is supposed to let up by the weekend. Once it does I think I will go hunting for wildflowers.

The genus Carduelis, to which the Lesser Goldfinch belongs, is a widespread grouping of finches. It includes two more species of North American goldfinch, the redpolls, and the crossbills, as well as the greenfinches, linnets, Twite, European Goldfinch, and siskins of Eurasia.