Sunday 1 August 2010

More Sustenance.

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These American goldfinces are all supposed to be dining politely on the nyger seed in the finch feeder on the right.  In fact, the clever little bird brains have discovered that the sunflower feeder on the left has a lot of unshelled seeds in it, courtesy of the way the seed is cleaned, and they have abandoned their traditional diet for fast food.  Note that the one female in the batch is definitely defending her space.
I regret that the focus is poor in this - it was taken at extreme telephoto from the nearest place I could hide.  I may have to build a blind.  That's a male purple finch at top right; yeah, I know he's the colour of ripe raspberries.  Lots of guys out for lunch here.

6 comments:

  1. Those are some bustling bird feeders! I love that your photo catches the activity, including a finch in flight.

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  2. This dining establishment is definitely a busy one. It's too bad about the focus, but it's still a great shot.

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  3. Perfectly focussed or not, that's a wonderful shot.

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  4. We get the hull-less sunflower seed for our main feeder in order to protect our nearby fishpond from algae-causing detritus. We were amazed at how the goldfinces bypass their own feeder in order to snack at the "big" feeder. Now the finch feeder is taken over by common sparrows mostly as the house finches, purple finches, and goldfinches swarm around once the bluejays and cardinals give it over.

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  5. great shot--birds provide a lot of fun entertainment.

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