Welcome to my Bird Blog!

Welcome to all my fellow bird lovers and gardeners! I'm so glad you stopped by.

Migratory bird populations have taken a nose dive in the past 40 years. But you can help bring their numbers back by creating beneficial, beautiful and fun habitats in your own backyard. Discover favorite plants and environments that shelter and feed colorful songbirds, as well as how to make them feel welcome by offering their preferred natural foods.

Grandma Pearl
(Connie Smith)

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Gold Finches on a Sunny Yellow Day

Male American Goldfinch at sunflower seed tube feeder
by Grandma Pearl
I call them drops of sunshine!  American Goldfinches  are a familiar and welcome sight.  The bright yellow and contrasting black plumage of the males is distinctive.  They use both the sunflower tube feeder and the nyjer or thistle tube feeder, often lining up in the nearby trees waiting for their turn.

Nyjer Thistle Seed Tube Feeders
 These guys travel in flocks and are very social and sociable.  I love to here their 'zee-zee-zeet' call as they fly in for food.  I planted coneflowers and joe pye weed so they would have lots of natural seed sources in the fall.  
Male American Goldfinch, Female Goldfinch and Goldfinch in flight
by Grandma Pearl
Yellow Double Tulips add to the Sunshine This Morning
by Grandma Pearl
What's your favorite color in nature?




Diminutive in size at about 5", they make their presence known as they chat among themselves at the feeders.  The female in breeding plumage is a duller olive green-grey color, but I think just as beautiful in her own way as the male.  She will lay 4 or 5 light blue eggs in her nest of grass and dandelion down.

Dandelion fluff, incidentally, is used by a number of birds to line their nests and cushion their eggs.  Just this morning I saw a chickadee with a beakful!
Am I the only one who thinks dandelions are pretty?
by Grandma Pearl



White-Throated Sparrow-Morphed with Yellow Spots above Lores
by Grandma Pearl
This White-Throated Sparrow sports bright yellow
spots above the lores; and white and black stripes on its head.  Yellow spots denote the morphed version.  The white throat is easily visible in this picture.  These sparrows love to forage on the ground for seeds and small insects.  Their call sounds like 'sweet, sweet, Canada, Canada, Canada.'  Measuring about 6 1/2" they  prefer to flock and roost in thickets or hedges at night.
Narcissus with Yellow Trumpet
by Grandma Pearl
What's your favorite color in Nature?
Grandma Pearl


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