Growing Up Fast !

The little goldfinches are growing up fast. From the way some still have no red at all while some are breaking out into what looks like a virulent red rash, there must be at least two different families at the feeders these days. This afternoon I counted at least 7 - and since some were pecking around in the long grass for spilled seed, I wasn't even sure that I counted them all.
Sorry, again the photos are taken through the window - and after the torrential rain on Saturday it's even dirtier than it was before.

Bird Time

I found it hard to believe that I didn't see one single bird on the Liffey this morning, except for a little grey wagtail flitting up the river ahead of me - no gulls, no ducks, no cormorants. But I did see these gulls in work, and thought the one landing with the open wing worked well for the recent Shades of Grey photo challenge.

There's no doubt about it - while this year's robins are still relatively fearless compared to most of the other species, and will hop around while C is working on his bike, they are nowhere near as people-friendly as last year's. Also they seem to prefer these little fruity suet pellets to the mealworms which last year's robins loved so much. I sometimes see one flying off with a pellet in his mouth, so I suspect it's part of the feeding his mate courtship ritual, but as it's not carried out in the back yard this year, I can't be positive.

And another newbie to the garden - today we had a goldfinch!  In our last house we had so many - there could be over a dozen perched on the washing line waiting to get at the peanut feeder, which is NOT their normal food. I used to spend hours watching them out of the kitchen window. We haven't seen in in the garden here in all the four years we've been here, but last week I hung up a nyger seed feeder, and today we were rewarded with a very interested goldfinch - you can see his beak stuffed with the little seeds. Unfortunately the feeder was out of the sunlight , so I've also used the first photo from when he landed on the seed feeder, even though it's not as well focussed - then he spotted the nyger seeds and spent over fifteen minutes there, with a few brief breaks any time the pigeon patrolling the ground underneath scared him off.