Image courtesy of Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Habitat
They like overgrown areas like weedy fields or open floodplains, also places with a lot of sunflower, aster, thistle plants, shrubs, and trees. They are often found in suburbs, parks, and backyards. They build nests in shrubs or saplings in open areas. It’s typically located higher up in the shrub, hidden from above by leaves or needles. The nest is made out of rootlets and plant fibers. It’s attached to the branches using spider silk.
Ecology
They eat only seeds. These include seeds from sunflower, thistle, aster, grasses, alder, birch, western red cedar, and elm. At feeders they prefer nyjer and sunflower.