This doesn't shock me after something I witnessed last year. We seemed to catch the "great goldfinch migration" with literally 40 to 50 finches in our yard during a 1 day period (our normal summer finch activity is 4 to 5 mating pairs of goldfinches and a few house finches). The goldfinches certainly swarmed the finch feeder, but the really weird behavior was how they all lined up at the border between the street and our yard in order to eat dandelion greens. To this day, I hay no idea why they were eating dandelion greens, but there is no question that is what most of the "flock" was doing. But eating chard leaves wouldn't surpise me.

nevermind.... A number of European songbirds are thought to have been deliberately released in the Chicago area. These species were not recorded during the first Wisconsin Breeding Bird Atlas, but in recent years, at least two of these species have been recorded nesting in Wisconsin. At this point, the extent to which these species may be establishing themselves is unclear, so we need your help to determine the spread of these species. Atlasers in southeastern Wisconsin should be paying particularly close attention.

Is it mycoplasmal conjunctivitis? Might want to check online for treatment. tj

I have lived in the same house for 20 years now. For many years, I had goldfinches. Then for the past probably 3 years, I didn't see any. This winter I saw some eating at the dried seed head arrangement I left up for them. Here is one in October 2018. And here they are now in all their gold finery.