Monday, February 16, 2009

Struck on Purple Finches

I had not planned to write another purple finch post right away but I had to after the way I encountered them today. And that would be every way--in the trees, on the feeders, on the bird bath.
What I enjoyed the most was discovering them sitting quietly in the trees above the feeders. A flock of pine siskins had come and gone and I was listening to three cardinals duke it out with song when a new influx of whistling siskins arrived. When they didn't descend on the feeders right away, I started to wonder how I was going to pick out the goldfinches for my Great Backyard Bird Count checklist.
As I was considering whether to count first or scan with binoculars, I discovered a male purple finch and near him, a first-glance-pine-siskin turned out to be a female purple finch and behind her, another one. What fun! I'm getting into these patient little beauties with the fluffed-up head feathers.
Above you're seeing two male purple finches.
They are so quiet, patient, seemingly in no hurry, but not timid about their right-of-way at the feeder. They fly in and everybody else moves over. I understand that is not so when house finches are present, but so far I haven't seen any house finches this winter. While I watched the pair below feeding together on sunflower seeds, another male and female landed on the birdbath and began to drink.
Peek through that window blur and don't miss that tufted-up crown on the right!
It was a bit of finch heaven at my place today!

Linked to Bird Photography Weekly #25 at Birdfreak. com in support of the conservation of our world's birds.

4 comments:

  1. I know how you feel Vickie. After reading your first post on "How Many Purple Finches" , I had to go really look at all the finches at the feeders for more Purples yesterday and today.

    Great captures of the male and female Purple Finches in your post! I really like the 5th one for the female and the last one for the male. All beautiful though.

    I can't wait for the sun to come out now to try to find some to photograph.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love the Purple Finches - I think they have sweet personalities! Enjoyed your photos!

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  3. Reading about your birds makes me want to move to the country. You have quite a few models for painting now. those Purple Finches will look great so get those paints out. :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Enjoyed all of your purple finch posts so far and see why you are fascinated by them. With their sweet expressions and tufted little crowns, they are the perfect creatures for you to sketch and paint.

    ReplyDelete

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