Yea for Goldfinches

Okay so it is not the best photography of the year, but it is the first time I’ve seen goldfinches on my feeders where I could get any kind of picture.  There was another male but he flew off before I could get the picture of all three.

I saw a male and female the other day on the backyard feeder.  I have known there were supposed to be goldfinches in the area, but all I have ever seen have been the house finch species.   I’ve put up my hummingbird feeders and hope I see evidence of them soon also.

A yes, now a female at the feeder and a male on a tree branch.  He just pushed her off.  Unfortunately the starlings have now arrived.  The two finches are back.  Okay enough running commentary.

I find bird feeders are great entertainment.    My parents’ kitchen had a wonderful picture window my dad had put in within a year of our moving into that house.  My dad also put up a feeder in the center of the small yard area outside of the backdoor/kitchen area.  We had a wonder full view of it.  After my grandmother suffered a stroke she came to live with us and she spent many a day enjoying the birds that came to the feeder, as did we all.  

My dad managed a baffle on the pole that kept the squirrels from climbing it (no mean feat).  Eventually one of the trees’ branches grew out far enough that the buggers (squirrels) started leaping from the end of the branch on to the top of the feeder.  Dad fixed that by driving nails through a thin board and placing the board with points up on top of the feeder.  That’s when my niece started calling him “Grandpa, The Impaler”.  Full disclosure – no squirrel was ever impaled.  They were too smart for that, but they also didn’t get at the feeder again.

Never saw any goldfinches there in Northern Illinois, although I’m sure they were in the area.  Perhaps at the niger seed feeders put up after I left home?

Are you a bird watcher?  What bird makes you happy to have seen?

 

I have to add this.  I am not the only bird watcher in the house.