Lesser Goldfinch

I've photographed lesser goldfinches twice this week out on my early morning walks. It is the smallest North American finch and perhaps the smallest finch in the world. Males have bright yellow underparts and white patches in the tail and on the wings. Some are solid black from the head to the back (the black-backed goldfinch), the predominant form, and some have just medium green (green-backed goldfinch), primarily in the far western U.S. and northwestern Mexico. There is broad diversity in the males in Colorado and New Mexico. 

Because California is in the far-west, the male does not have the sold black back, but more a mixture of black and green.

Females are grayish olive/green with yellowish underparts. Both sexes have conical bills.