Goldfinches love basil seeds and I was lucky the light was decent when I saw this one feeding. The basil was full and easily sturdy enough to support the weight of this tiny bird. The bright bold colors identifies this finch as a male, although as we head into Fall, his color will fade and be more of a drab olive, like the female.
Some cool facts can be found about these strict vegetarians at the Cornell Lab website. For example, when Brown-headed Cowbirds, known for being a brood parasite, lay eggs in an American Goldfinch nest, the nestling seldom survives more than three days because cowbird chicks can’t survive on the all-seed diet goldfinches feed their young.