Bird ID Please

Taken in the Flint Hills of NE Kansas
Male and female from the same species?
Thanks,
the fisch

Fisch,

These are American Goldfinches. While it is extremely easy to distinguish between the male and female during the breeding season (the male is brilliant yellow), in winter it is more subtle. Also, at this time of year their plumages are very variable. Essentially, the male has more yellow in the face and head while the female is almost all brown. I'd say the top bird is a male and the bottom bird is either a drab male or a bright female. I'm not too confident on calling the bottom bird simply because there is still a fair amount of yellow in the face. I imagine someone else will chime in as well.

Drew

Drew,
Thanks for the ID and information. These guys were feeding ravenously on the plants.
Quite alert as most birds are.
I was camouflaged and took these with a 300 mm lens from about 30 feet.
I tried to rise slightly to shoot over interfering grass and they flew.
I wish people were as alert...
the fisch

Yeah, they are very active birds. I've got a dozen or so that come in to my thistle feeders every day and, like the chickadees, they rarely stop moving.

Drew

I backup Drews comments. I've had the good fortune of being able to photograph these birds feeding on pine cones over the past few weekends and they are quite active and it's near impossible to tell the males and females apart at this time of year.