I can really appreciate why a group of goldfinches have the collective name of a charm of goldfinches. They really do charm us.
Recently Martyn posted a video that he had taken of the goldfinches that seem to have adopted our garden. Not to be outdone as the sunlight fell in just to right position I decided to try for some stills.
The bird feeders that the goldfinches frequent are very near to one of our windows - about 1.5 metres away at most - but, just as long as we don't make any sudden movement, they don't seem to mind us standing by the window watching them. They just seem to stare back at us.
Their favourite food seems to be the sunflower hearts which they go through at an alarming rate. The one above was queuing for a turn on the feeder. I'm not joking they really do seem to queue!
Three birds at a time will tolerate one another on the feeder. Any more results in squabbling. The one above won't be hurried.
As some of the food spills as the birds are feeding or as the wind blows, beneath the feeder we have a ground feeding table. Birds gather here often in quite large numbers - we have counted 16 goldfinches at one time - to clear up the fallen delicacies.
The birds will happily continue to feed as sunflower hearts rain down on their heads.
Then there are some birds that sulk because they are not centre of attention.
One disadvantage of leaded windows is that it isn't always easy the capture the shot that you want so having birds that don't mind you pushing the camera up against the window helps as does keeping the windows clean!
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Fabulous photos. I've only seen the odd goldfinch in my garden this year. They're such lovely birds, as are the friendly robins.
ReplyDeleteMaybe we have them all, Jo
DeleteHow lovely to have gold finches in the garden. I grew up in a rural area and wwe had a huge variety of birds. Here we only have a fairly small (and fairly unremarkable)number that visit.
ReplyDeleteWe have quite a lot of variety too, Liz but Martyn spotted a rather large hawk sitting in our crab apple trees - it was only an eye corner view so he couldn't tell what it was. I hope it doesn't decide that we are running a fast food chain.
DeleteCharming indeed! What a lovely bird. Absolutely beautiful pictures! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks VG - they are very cute too as they seem to stare back
DeleteAmazing photos Sue - we have a regular flock of gold finches that visit us every day but the feeders are too far away from the house to be able to take photos. Wonderful to be able to see them close up.
ReplyDeleteThey don't seem to mind the close proximity Elaine and stay put when other birds fly off. If we move suddenly and spook them they are soon back again.
DeleteMarvelous photographs of the Goldfinches. I had some that used to visit my garden but they haven't been around this year.
ReplyDeleteTry sunflower hearts Rooko (or is it John?) THey can't resist them
DeleteGreat post and images, Sue! I agree with everything here and have a large ground tray underneath a hanging feeder too. Most of my photos are taken through a window and it is tricky with reflections from inside. In almost every post I do with Goldfinches, I try to find an excuse to fit in the word charming. I agree on the Robin also and I’ve got a photo with that view on my latest post too. I think ‘SNAP’ should be my comment ;-)
ReplyDeleteThey deserve the name don't they Shirl? I'll be over to see your post soon
DeleteI envy you having a charm of goldfinches in your garden, I've not seen any since we got to Anglesey. I've had wood chucks in the garden though!
ReplyDeleteThey are beauties, Janet
DeleteStunning pics of stunning birds. Out of interest, how far is your window from the feeder and what camera are you using? Currently tempted to upgrade from my Canon compact...
ReplyDeleteThe feeder is about 1.5 metres from the window - maybe a little less but I do have a 25x zoom so can take photos much further away too. The camera is a Panasonic Lumix FZ100 set on auto as I haven't learned how to use the other settings yet even though I've had the camera a while. It's also set to 11 frames a second burst which is why some photos are similar as they will have been taken in the same firing. Lots are deleted too. We also have a lumix ZS3 which I prefer for close-ups as it has a macro zoom setting.
DeleteCheers Sue, most helpful as always!
DeleteDid you read the answer to your comment I posted on Mal's blog about deleting Picasa photos?
DeleteYup, got it, thanks again. I actually upload all pics I take on the plot to picasaweb straight from my phone, then just pick out the ones which I want to put on the blog, which then end up in a second folder on picasa. If I delete all the pics I haven't used on the blog I'll be nowhere near the 1 gig limit; not for a good few years anyhow!
DeleteCan you set up your phone to take a smaller size? - upgrade to Google+ and then I think the image size limit for freebies is under 2048px at the longest side. That way you should never reach your limit.
DeleteSuch cheeky chappies. Real characters!
ReplyDeleteAnd chappessses, mal
DeleteBeautiful creatures and beautiful photos! You're so lucky to get up close with them. We do have them in my allotment garden but they are a rare sight. I see them more on the telegraph wires down the road oddly enough. Lovely post :)
ReplyDeleteWe get them on the allotment too, Anna we generally can hear them twittering in the plum trees but they tend to be in silhouette
DeleteSome lovely photos Sue. I especially enjoyed seeing the Robin in the last shot. Reminds me I really need to fill my feeders!
ReplyDeleteWe've just had a goldfinch tapping on the ice in the bird bath Tanya reminding us to go and thaw it? The ice not the goldfinch.
DeleteOh my word Sue, any of those first 3 images would make fantastic paintings or images for cards, in fact they already have a painting look to them, would that be because they were taken through glass?
ReplyDeleteFabulous birds which we've only had visit our garden one season unfortunately, however the guy up the road has a more sheltered garden and he gets loads of them.
Thank you for sharing such beautiful images.
Linda
Glad you liked them Linda - they are beautiful birds.
DeleteThey are around most of the time as they can't resist the sunflower hearts.