This bird stopped at our feeder with a flock of goldfinches. Is it a finch?

Kenn and Kimberly:

The colors in birds’ feathers are created by a few different categories of pigments, and these can be affected by different things. Black, gray and most of the brown colors in feathers are produced by melanins, while yellow, red and orange are produced by carotenoid pigments. The beautiful bird at your feeder looks like an

American goldfinch that has normal carotenoid pigments (producing the bright yellow) but is lacking melanins. That’s why it looks as if someone took a normal goldfinch and then deleted all the black from its wings and tail.