A pair of cardinals were trying to get at the seed on the floor of the caged feeder a few days ago. Cardinals want their seed served on a flat surface, not from a hanging feeder. We're going to look into some kind of platform feeder, perhaps placed right outside the living room window. Above is the male, resting on top of the caged feeder.
Above is a goldfinch in winter plumage - not gold at all, as you can see:
Adult males in spring and early summer are bright yellow with black forehead, black wings with white markings, and white patches both above and beneath the tail. Adult females are duller yellow beneath, olive above. Winter birds are drab, unstreaked brown, with blackish wings and two pale wingbars.
-All About Birds - Cornell Lab of Ornithology
It took a while for the goldfinches to find our thistle-seed feeder after we put it up in late summer, but they are regular visitors now. Our other regulars include plenty of chickadees and some house finches.
2 comments:
Penny, you should see if you can find one of those window feeder trays (suction cups stick right on your window and you get some really close-up looks at the birds). I just put mine up in the winter and my cat loves watching birds from inside on the windowsill.
(if you ever get down to Rochester, they have them at the Wild Birds Unlimited store at Miracle Mile)
Thanks for the suggestion, Ruthie. We'll definitely consider that, though Dave is concerned the cats might like it too much! We do have a nice open flowerbed just a few feet in front of the window which would be a good place to set up a feeder. We used to have a little ornamental evergreen in that spot, but it died last winter so now we are free to use the space in other ways.
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