Monday 6 October 2014

Goldfinch love!

Yes, the feeders are up at the front of the house. It is so joyful watching them feed and it lowers my blood pressure! They zoom in, watching carefully for cats or blue jays, who dominate at the feeder. I spotted a woodpecker snapping at a nuthatch. "It's MY feeder!"

I could hear a bird calling endlessly. It was a goldfinch. In the video, below, you can hear her. I presume it is the female, but this seems to be mating behaviour, and it is the fall, not a time when they mate.

I followed her, as she sits atop the tree, begging for food. Eventually, once her mate survived the visits of the blue jay, which scared him off, he managed to grab some food.

She is a little more dull, more olive than their summer colours. He is slightly more yellow, at least for now. Off he went, up to her to feed her. It was so sweet. It went on for hours. I'll see if it happens again today!


Goldfinch love from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.
Feed me, I'm yours!

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

The goldfinches are so cute. We have lots of them all year round, always flitting from feeder to feeder to spent flower heads for seeds. I enjoyed your video ... just like stepping into the garden.

A Colorful World said...

Oh, what beautiful photos and also narrative. I felt like I was there enjoying it with you! And the video is wonderful! Love the mom and fledgling!

Hilary said...

Lovely. I haven't seen any goldfinch activity around here for a couple of weeks now. I guess they've moved on to your place!

Might your female actually be a juvenile? It's behaving like one.. with those faux-helpless flappy wings. The goldfinch does breed much later in the summer than most birds so this one could possibly be one of the young. Just a thought.

Jenn Jilks said...

It's a good thought, Hilary! It's so hard to tell!

Sallie (FullTime-Life) said...

I also consider watching our yardbirds to be great therapy! And I love goldfinch. When we got back to Oregon last month I filled and hung the feeders .... they just sat for a week and then the birds started slowly to come.... guess they had to wait a while to make sure it wasn't a trap

Red said...

This sounds like a late juvenile which is still being fed by an adult.

Powell River Books said...

Wonderful pictures. We had a heron come by this week, and of course, the ravens. There was also a sparrow like bird, but I'm not sure what it was. That's about it except a few confused geese flying north. - Margy

Olga said...

My grandson says, "Look! Goldfish on the feeder!"

TexWisGirl said...

they're just some of the sweetest birds with adorable songs.

William Kendall said...

I have heard that birdcall before, but I didn't know what type it belonged to. Beautiful captures!

Cloudia said...

You are lucky to have such visitors, Jenn :-)




ALOHA from Honolulu
ComfortSpiral
=^..^= . <3

Anonymous said...

Such pretty shots.