Goldfinches (noisy yellow and red garden birds)
Goldfinches are small and highly social birds, with yellow wing patches and bright red faces, that travel together in a noisy flock. They use their slender beaks to eat thistle and niger seeds, and commonly visit English gardens. They also like dandelion and lavender seeds. Their ancient name was ‘thistle-tweaker!’
Read how to create safe havens for garden birds, and how to stop birds flying into windows.
Found all over the UK (apart from northern Scotland), you’ll also spot them in the woods and farmland. Some (not all) migrate to Spain for winter. They nest in cup-shaped nests.
A Charm of Goldfinches (and other collective nouns) is a gorgeous book and educational and funny too. This is a really really good book – really do buy a copy! You’ll learn all manner of info about creatures around the world, in funny narratives.
The Stunning Yellow Colours in Nature
Yellow is one of nature’s oldest colours, even prehistoric cave paintings show pigments using yellow ochre. Known to symbolise happiness and optimism, for humans it’s the colour most visible to the human eye from a distance (why it’s used for school buses and safety vests).
Yellow is often a colour on bird feathers, to attract a mate. In nature, yellow is used more as a colour to attract pollinators. Read how to grow your own cheerful sunflowers!
Autumn leaves can also be yellow, and of course, the sun (which is actually a star) is bright yellow!
In China, there is even a ‘yellow river’, the water coloured by the huge amount of sediment discharged into it, as the river flows through the Loess Plateau.
Yellow Found in Foods (carotenoids)
Many foods are also yellow (bananas, lemons), due to carotenoids. Many birds have yellow feathers, due to consuming carotenoid-rich foods.
Yellow as a Deterrent
The golden poison dart frog (from Columbia) is possibly the most poisonous creature on earth. 100 times stronger than morphine, it can can kill 20,000 mice or 10 people, even from touching it. You may have heard of it recently in the news, as its poison was used to kill Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
And yes, it’s yellow. Despite never having actually killed anyone themselves, these frogs are now endangered due to being poached or used for the pet trade.
