Tuesday Afternoon Bird Photo

American goldfinch

I love seeing these bright yellow birds, and I had heard that if you just put out a feeder full of nyjer (or Niger or black thistle) seed, goldfinches will just find it and start hanging out in your yard.

So off I went a few weeks ago to the bird feeder/seed place to get some supplies. I hung the feeder in the back yard near the bird bath and other feeders. And then I waited.

As it turns out, I only had to wait about five days. One morning I came downstairs and looked out the window and there was a female goldfinch on the feeder. It flew away when I opened the door to go outside.

Next morning, there were two and then three goldfinches on the feeder.

Now they come every morning, still the three of them as far as I can tell (2 males, one female), and they often come in the late afternoons as well. They are more skittish than some of the other birds (the chickadees practically sit on the arm of my chair and the sparrows steadily ignore me while they fill all the perches on the fruit and nut feeder). But oh so pretty and a lovely song as well.