Tuesday, February 17, 2015

The Goldfinches are Here!


The goldfinches are in Vicksburg! 

My mother called me from Monroe, Louisiana this morning and told me they have goldfinches. I looked out my window while I was on the phone with her and, sure enough … there was a finch sitting in our feeder eating sunflower seeds, bless his heart! I put some finch food in our finch feeder and it didn’t take long for them to find it. They’re not bright gold yet, but are such a welcome sight. 





Meanwhile, our cardinals were happily
munching away on sunflower seeds. 





Please don’t forget your birds. 
They need us -- especially this time of year!



2 comments:

RachelD said...

What a welcome sight! They're so fortunate to have such welcoming hosts to provide.

Do they change their color as the season warms, or is it for mating season, or a change of diet to green things once the snows fade? I've never been acquainted with any of the little marvels, but they are really beautiful, even not at their BEST golden shade.

Yesterday, I hauled out about a half-gallon tub of Fluffer-Nutter I had made for our cancelled trip to the coast last Summer. I made up PB& Honey and quite a few other dips and spreads for the trip (others perishable, but this big Tup got set away and forgotten). I heated several cups of it in the microwave, just to soft gooey consistency, and stirred it into all the torn-up odds and ends of bread, buns, croissants, and even the leftover chex mix and an enormous bag of past-their-date sunflower seeds (shelled ones).

Along with two plastic pans of hot water, steaming for a minute or two in the 22 degrees, before starting to chill, I spread it all around in the snow-free sections of the back turn-around.
There were soon flocks flitting and eating---mostly dark birds, for we have lots of starlings and grackles, I think, along with a big luck bush full of cardinals who never desert us, and played peek-a-boo with Sweetpea all through brunch up in the big sunny windows on Sunday.

Hope you're staying well and warm. Thank you for this extra cheer on such a cloudy morning!

love and,
r

Dorothy said...

Those are beautiful pictures of your birds! We have had the Goldfinch here for about a month. They are beginning to show more yellow feathers. We also have hundreds of Pine Siskins, which emptying the feeders very rapidly! I DO like to see all the birds and photograph them when I can.