Goldfinches

[Barbara]

I thought I would just share this pic with you of the flock of goldfinches which I took this morning before they descended on my feeders. Now that the most of the leaves are gone it was lovely to see them in a flock, when I first started to attract birds just two used to visit, they must have spread the word around.

[matt_xyz]

very nice Barbara, I've never seen more than 2 at our feeders. I bet they get through the food! They're a lovely sight when in a flock like that.

Matt

[Barbara]

Originally Posted by matt_xyz

very nice Barbara, I've never seen more than 2 at our feeders. I bet they get through the food! They're a lovely sight when in a flock like that.

Matt

Thanks Matt, they are a lovely sight, especially when the sun is shining on them like it was this morning, they were joined by a blue tit and a sparrow but I think they felt outnumbered and flew off. Yes they are getting through some food mainly hearts, niger and black sunflower, but what the hec I wish it was a better pic, but I struggle to get a decent pic of more than one bird in a shot, there were more goldfinches than are in the image about four more I think but I couldn't get them all in the frame

[scholesy]

Goldfinches are cracking little birds. Beautiful colouring, especially when the sunlight hits them.

I get a maximun of around 8 i think. You have greenfinch in your shot too, I have had up to 14 of these fiesty birds. They like a squabble and bully the goldfinches a little.

[Barbara]

Originally Posted by scholesy

Goldfinches are cracking little birds. Beautiful colouring, especially when the sunlight hits them.

I get a maximun of around 8 i think. You have greenfinch in your shot too, I have had up to 14 of these fiesty birds. They like a squabble and bully the goldfinches a little.

They are cracking little birds aren't they just scholesy, it amazes me how long their beak is as well. Do you know I wasn't sure whether it was a greenfinch or not. Crikey 14 Greenfinches at once that is a lot of greenfinches to be altogether( that could be classed as a mob )Yes they try to get the upper hand at the feeders with the goldfinches and more often than not win.

[glsammy]

Lucky you Barbara. Enjoy them while you can.
I'm after enticing them to my garden as we still get no Goldfinches, our Niger seeds have all sprouted! We're going to have a Niger forest around our feeders next year.

[Barbara]

Originally Posted by glsammy

Lucky you Barbara. Enjoy them while you can.
I'm after enticing them to my garden as we still get no Goldfinches, our Niger seeds have all sprouted! We're going to have a Niger forest around our feeders next year.

You and me both Graham I have a teasel plant with five seed heads but they don't seem to bother with them much they just go straight to the feeders, now and then I see one on it I've even seen a blue tit and a coal tit investigating it. I am going to plant more next year to get a nice show maybe then they will take more interest in them but only if I can find room to plant them once the niger trees have grown I'll keep my fingers crossed for you Graham I do hope they visit you soon

[John]

Up until yesterday I had about 4 or five visiting our feeders. Suddenly that increased to about 50 yesterday but today it appears to have dropped back down to the original few birds.

Last Winter we had a regular 50 ish birds every day and with them were up to 11 Siskins each day. I hope that happens again this winter.

John

[matt_xyz]

I'm looking out for my siskins on a daily basis, I really hope they return. We had a constant flock in our garden last winter. Hopefully they might turn up again once the weather turns a bit cooler.

Matt

[honeybee]

Was at the nature reserve the other day and just said "I havn't seen any goldfinches in my garden for ages" when out of a nearby tree a charm (flock) flew out of an alder, about as many birds as in the pic and landed in another tree. Saw them again today .Also think I saw a couple of bullfinches in the distance, not seen any in a while. Can see more now due to the bare branches.

[smartie]

My niger feeder remains deserted. A greenfinch had a look at it this morning but preferred the sunflowers. My half dozen greenfinches have returned and are facing down the other birds at the feeders. They are the only birds, apart from the robins, occasionally, that continue to sit on the feeder to eat the seeds - all the others fly away with a seed to a nearby branch. So the greenfinches can be in possession of the feeders for 10 minutes or so while the tits and dunnocks have to queue up, or forage around on the ground for spilled seeds - the greenfinches are also very messy eaters.

[Barbara]

Originally Posted by John

Up until yesterday I had about 4 or five visiting our feeders. Suddenly that increased to about 50 yesterday but today it appears to have dropped back down to the original few birds.

Last Winter we had a regular 50 ish birds every day and with them were up to 11 Siskins each day. I hope that happens again this winter.

John

Crikey about 50 goldfinches that's fantastic John, the most I have ever counted in one go is 14. As for the siskins I have only ever seen two which was when I first started photographing birds in March this year. I saw them two days on a run but not spotted them since maybe I will have to wait until March next year until I get the chance again

[John]

Originally Posted by Barbara

Crikey about 50 goldfinches that's fantastic John, the most I have ever counted in one go is 14. As for the siskins I have only ever seen two which was when I first started photographing birds in March this year. I saw them two days on a run but not spotted them since maybe I will have to wait until March next year until I get the chance again

looking at my bird data base a couple of Siskins arrived in my garden on 10/02/06 and gradually built up in numbers until it was mid March.

John

[Barbara]

Originally Posted by John

looking at my bird data base a couple of Siskins arrived in my garden on 10/02/06 and gradually built up in numbers until it was mid March.

John

Ah, so that would suggest a good time would be before March when I may expect to see them if they visit again next year. Thanks for that info John