This male Goldfinch looks a little messy – he’s in the middle of his spring molt. He and his mate have been visiting us for about a week now. We have 2 finch feeders for our finches, one is a sock (pictured) and the other is a plastic feeder. I prefer the socks, because they’re easier to clean and cheaper to replace, but the squirrels just rip them open so they have their faults, too. Last year I bought a domed sock, so it’s helped keep the squirrels off of them.
That’s some pleasant eye bling though, when you look out at your feeders and see the Goldfinches. When they’re not eating, they’re sitting on the wire above the feeders talking to each other, the male reminds me a bit of a dorky teenager saying “pleeease? pleeeease?” (have a listen here – it’s about 32 seconds in.)
This morning I awoke around 3-4 am to the sound of a Great Horned Owl outside my bedroom window. Amazing. I must have thought it was a Mourning Dove, because it startled me awake thinking I had overslept! Then, as I was taking the trash out – I caught a glimpse of a large bird taking off from my backyard with something in his talons. I quickly ran out to see what he had, and found a pile of feathers and the (gross alert) head of a male sparrow. It was an American Kestrel, who frequents our yard for small edibles. What a day!!
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{8 Comments}
sounds like a great place for birding!
I remember as a kid not liking bluejays because they would raid the robin nests and eat up all the eggs & babies.
Now that I live here and bluejays are not common I got so excited when I saw one in my backyard the other day! he was awefully pretty! And he can have all the robins he wants cuz frankly I’m sick of them!!! The robins like to sit in my strawberry patch and eat all the strawberries and poop them right back out all over my garden!!!
So I’m hoping that bluejay brings some friends.
That goldfinch is GLORIOUS, molt or not! That image would make a great desktop background. :yahoo:
Hey… what is YOUR background?? Now I’m curious. 😀
My desktop background? My baby, of course: http://intricateart.com/a-fairy-photo/
Such a glorious sight, this beautiful bird. I was hoping for a photo of the great horned owl, too! We have a red tailed hawk (we’re pretty sure) that hangs around. We know when he’s here because we hear all the birds squawking in horror. It really upsets me too because I will see the doves he eats (see the leftovers) and these are doves that we feed.
Leanne, why not consider printing and selling some of your gorgeous photos?
Thanks, Karen!
I wish I could have photographed the owl, but I didn’t want to startle him by pulling my curtains back. The birds here go crazy when the kestrel is around, they’re not as intimidated by the hawk.
I do have prints available of my photography here in my shop: http://intricateart.com/shop/photography-prints/
I’m pretty picky about the ones I turn into prints, I want them to be perfect, you know!
I love having birds around. I love their song and they way the chatter back and forth. It makes me smile
Beautiful! We’re a little behind you here. My irises and tulips are just about an inch or so of green peeking out of the ground. Spring is here! Yay!
It never ceases to amaze me how birds vary from continent to continent. Although our UK Goldfinch is obviously from the same family the colouring is different
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They have been really busy on the feeders today, I really must try and get a better photo.
The only raptor we see in the garden is the Sparrow Hawk, he seems to have preferance for larger birds like collar doves, but we have a feeling we have a Buzzard nesting in the Oak trees in the fields, I must go for a walk around and see if I can see any signs of where they maybe.
Thanks once again for sharing with us
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