A cacophany of goldfinches

[nanila]

Things are a bit exciting around the bird feeders at the moment. It has been very cold for several days here in the UK, and I've noticed an increasing number of regular visitors to our garden. I'm having to fill the feeders every day. Today I filled the main seed feeder twice. There are currently five goldfinches feeding in the garden. I've never seen more than two at a time before. In this photo you can see four of them, plus a house sparrow and three blue tits, and a light dusting of snow.

Below the cut is one additional photo, in which you can see all five goldfinches, three sparrows, two blue tits and a robin.


Having some issues with space!

Comments

[mybeautifulwars]

Beautiful! I love how you got several of them in flight!

[nanila]

Thank you! The technique for this is "find a good focal point, set it there, switch to continuous shooting mode and hold down the shutter button for a while." :)

[mybeautifulwars]

LOL I know that technique quite well.... :-p

[redsixwing]

Great photos!

[nanila]

Thank you!

[kotturinn]

Another one impressed with the fact that you have some in flight. Lovely photos.

[nanila]

Heh. There is a certain amount of luck involved. My technique for catching them in flight is: find a good focal point, set that, switch to continuous shooting mode and depress the shutter button for a while. I took about 200 shots over ten minutes of observation/shooting and these were the two I liked best.

[kotturinn]

Yup, thank goodness for the age of digital photography! Worth sorting through 200 or so for those though.

[shirebound]

Beautiful shots! There's standing room only at this fine dining restaurant.

[nanila]

Thank you! Yes, definitely. Even after I'd refilled the main feeder, the competition for seats was pretty fierce.

[veritas_poet]

Action shots! Ah, this reminds me of spring.

[nanila]

The temperatures at the moment (-5 to -10 C) are definitely reminding us that it is not yet spring!

[veritas_poet]

EEK! Well, it's hopeful, at least.

[sally_maria]

What wonderful photos - thank you for sharing them.

[nanila]

Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed them. :)

[turlough]

Oh, goldfinches! I haven't seen any of those in years. They're so cool and exotic-looking. And you've taken such fabulous photos of them. The top one is just fantastic!

[nanila]

Until we started putting out the thistle seed feeder, I'd only ever seen goldfinches in the UK once or twice. Now we get them constantly. And thank you!

[nightdog_barks]

Beautiful photos! So glad you posted these. :D

[nanila]

Thank you! It was just as busy today. It's going to stay below freezing, windy and snowy for at least another three days, so I'm being vigilant about the feeders.

[yourlibrarian]

Huh, I've never seen that circular balls feeder before. What are those made of?

[nanila]

It's made of metal. I think I bought it from the RSPB online shop a few years back.

Usually the fat balls are really popular, but I think we bought a less appealing brand last time round (insufficient suet?), as the seeds and the peanuts have been going much faster.

[thenewbuzwuzz]

Very nice! :)

[nanila]

Thanks! It was just as busy out today.

[ozswede]

What a terrific shot - and you captured some of them flying as well. I always find that quite hard to do. I just love the litle robin, standing there quite apart from the jostling and patiently waiting his turn. They really are adorable.

Looking at the congestion, I think yopu might need another feeding station :-)

I've not seen too many goldfinches this year. Up here it seems to be the year of the redpoll, with far more around than we usually get. I miss the goldfinches as they make a lovely splash of exotic colour in what can otherwise be a drab landscape. My feeders have a lot of blue tits (and a bullying woodpecker). The other day I counted sixteen at just two of the feeders.

[nanila]

Thanks! The robin is super friendly. He tends to stay on the feeders when I come out to refill them. He seems to know what I'm up to, and also that my presence means all the other birds fly away for a little while.

I added another spherical peanut feeder to a tree, but I think you're probably right that we could use another stand.

We seem to be awash in goldfinches, but I have yet to see more than one green finch (and we usually see several). Our woodpecker is quite brash as well. There's also a jay who visits us very early every morning and hops around on the ground hoovering up the scraps from the previous day's feasting.

[iddewes]

Fab photos!