Hello Joe,

I think your bird is a female indigo bunting. Its picture is in my Audubon Field Guide.

What a pretty bird!

You were lucky to see this bird at your feeder.

It is a female American goldfinch.

Here's some photos to compare with your photo

1-30-09, Pine Siskin attacking Goldfinch on feeder. Male and female winter plumage Goldfinches

7-24-09, Poppy Mnt, juvy female Indigo Bunting

Joe,
Try a winter goldfinch-they start to lose their pretty yellow about now.Females are duller year round. A female Indigo Bunting would be very rare in Canada (although birds seldom read field guides & may show up anywhere)I feel it is a goldfinch due to the black wings with lighter wingbars. It may be just a friendlier bird or a juvenile lacking "street smarts" of adults. If you get to see one in flight they have an undulating flight pattern and say "po-tay-to chip" as they fly.
Susan

I think it is a fledgling goldfinch with the black on the wings and the off white/brown wingbars. We have lots of them being fed by the adults and eating on their own here in WI yet.

Donna

I'll change my vote from female to fledgling - silly me didn't even think of that even though my yard is full of them too! But definitely goldfinch.

Our Goldfinches are still yellow. I think this is a pine siskin.

This is not a pine siskin. Look at the beak, that is not a siskin beak. It's a goldfinch.

I also think it is a juvenile goldfinch. That short tail is definitely a juvenile characteristic.

I've been studying photos and comparing and I agree that it must be a very young American goldfinch.

What I find amazing is the richness of the color on this bird. I couldn't find any photos of a juvenile goldfinch that had this same coloring, only those with lighter brown and some hints of yellow, so I am assuming that this would mean the bird is a fledgling that hasn't developed the whole plumage range of colors yet.

An interesting puzzle for a new birder -

I have no opinion on the birdy but I would LOVE to know what kind of camera you have.

Its a Sanyo Xacti HD1010. I bought it for it's 1080 HDTV capabilities but its also a fine still camera.

Here is a link that might be useful: Camera

Nice picture...Goldfinch for sure.
I have slightly lightened up to bring out more of the yellow,...hope you don't mind, this shot was done in dark situation using flash, [ reflection on eye] most often colours being somewhat off.

Konrad

True, I tried without the flash but it wasn't a good shot.

Here is a shot I took just this past weekend of a fledgling goldfinch, it was still begging for food from mom and dad. It was waiting on my mums while the adults fed on the conflower seeds in my flowerbed.

Donna

Yes, juvenile goldfinches have the buffy wing bars, an adult in fall plumage would have white wing bars. This is an easy way to tell the first year birds after they stop begging and harassing the adults. The buffy wing bars start to change to adult white about mid to late winter in my experience.

BN

My vote is Juvenile American Goldfinch.
Love those guys! :)