Goldfinch photo

[Lockzie]

Hello

I thought I would share my photo of a goldfinch.

I saw 2 goldfinches for the first time in June 2009, then I didnt spot them again until last Saturday. Since then, they have been visiting up to 10 times a day, spending their time eating the sunflower hearts and ignoring the niger seed. I have lived here for 10 years and never seen them in the garden, so really thrilled . I even bought a new lens for my camera to get some better shots, so really pleased to get this picture. (I dont know much about my camera yet, still using it as a point and shoot! )



Regards
Amanda

[Pete Collins]

Nice photo, I can understand why you're thrilled to get such colourful birds in your garden!

Welcome to WAB, btw.

[ron1863]

Hi Amanda, I know the feeling, we have them all around us but had never seen one in the garden until a couple of months ago when a pair visited the feeders for a week then disappeared. Hopefully they will be back when the food gets scarce. Enjoy, they are beautiful little birds.

[aland]

Hello amanda, The secret is to always have a supply of sunflower seeds in your garden, we are never with out them in our,s we have always got green finches & goldfinches, apples will draw in black caps if they are around and my wife puts out grapes that blackbirds love they have to share these with our parrot who by the way stands and mimics a panic call of blackbirds perfectly, Of course some areas do not have some species of bird every year my wife starts a new list of our visitors we have a very enclosed type of garden with lots of ever green trees and in winter they will spend the whole day in the trees and bushes she spends a lot of time and money on bird food and making her own fat balls etc, aland

[AndrewB]

Hi Amanda,

I have Goldies visiting which is really nice as behind the trees at the end of my garden is a busy road so I dont get many of the more unusual visitors. They were quite regular a few weeks ago but seem to visit less often lately. I have a niger holder but havent tried sunflower seeds yet so will maybe try getting them going on that.

One thing I did notice was that compared with other birds they dont seem to be the most attentive parents! Whilst other birds such as tits and even stralings were busy feeding their young the baby goldies just seemed to be waiting around while the parents munched away. They are great though and dont seem to be at all phased by the presence of larger birds.