Unique among goldfinches because of its mostly gray body. Male has black forehead and throat, yellow breast, and complex black and yellow pattern on wings. Female is duller with ghost of male's pattern. Found in open grassy woodland. Uncommon, but sometimes travels in large flocks, especially in fall and winter. Highly erratic, moves around a lot from year-to-year; difficult to track down with much reliability. Feeds on seeds. Sometimes visits feeders.