Practicing with birds at our seed feeder, this was another attempt at shooting in RAW mode. Here I used Aperture Priority F2.00; 1/160 sec; spot metering. The bird was in deep shade, but there was bright sun in much of the overall field.
This is a rather nomadic species, and California is experiencing a major invasion of these birds right now.
Three races are recognized by Clements. This is the widespread nominate North American race. Two others are found in Mexico. They are less distinctly streaked and differ in size and the amount of yellow in the tail.
Based on mitochondrial genetic data these siskins and North American goldfinches were moved from the genus Carduelis to Spinus in the 50th supplement to the AOU Check-list.
Digiscoped with Panasonic DMC-LX5 | Nikon FieldScope III | 30XWA |hand-held (no adapter).