The goldfinches

(Cross-posted from The Nature of Things.)

The most recent book that I finished reading, just a few days ago, was The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. The MacGuffin of that book is a small painting of a pet European Goldfinch that was painted in 1654 by the Dutch artist Carel Fabritius. It seems coincidental and somehow appropriate then that the stars of my backyard these days are the American Goldfinches that visit us in the late fall and winter.

The goldfinches arrived in my yard several weeks ago, around the end of November. As soon as I saw the first ones in the area, I filled my nyger seed feeders and hung them in the backyard. They continued to hang there unutilized until this week.

Finally, this week as the extreme cold hit our area along with most of the rest of the country and as the wild food for the birds began to be depleted, the goldfinches have started visiting my feeders.

Even though the nyger seed feeders were waiting for them, the first feeders the finches visited were those filled with black oil sunflower seed. This is their pattern every year - they always go for the sunflower seeds first.

 But, finally, yesterday they began visiting the feeders that had been hung just for them.

The number of goldfinches in my yard has been down quite a bit this winter over recent years. Last winter, for example, by this time, I was seeing flocks of more than fifty of the little birds around my feeders and those numbers were swelled even more by the addition of their cousins, the boisterous little Pine Siskins.

We have no siskins this year, though, which in fact had been predicted by the Winter Finch Forecast. Some years they don't make it this far south, and, indeed, fewer goldfinches also seem to have come south this year. What I'm seeing now are flocks of 10 to 20 birds.

I suppose the flocks could still grow as more of the wild food is exhausted farther north and the cold weather may continue to push them southward, but so far it has been a very lightly populated winter on the finch front.

Though we have no Pine Siskins and fewer American Goldfinches than in some years, we do still have our resident House Finches to help the goldfinches in brightening our winter days.

A House Finch and an American Goldfinch share a feeder in the backyard.

As a family, the finches are certainly among the most beautiful and the most interesting of our backyard birds.

Still here

I've had the sense recently that our winter birds seem to be staying with us longer this year than in the past. So, to check my memory, I looked back at my previous years' records on eBird to see what they showed. As often happens, I found that my memory was somewhat faulty.

My records show that my latest sighting of American Goldfinches in my yard was on April 9, 2011, so the fact that I still have some in my yard here at the first of April is not that unusual. But there do seem to be more of the birds that are making the transition to their spring feathers in my yard. Usually, we only see them in their gray-green winter clothes, but this year bright yellow and black birds are common in the yard.

This male American Goldfinch, in my yard over the weekend,  has changed about halfway into his spring clothes.

My latest yard sighting of Pine Siskins was on April 27, 2011, so they could potentially still be hanging around for another month.

The siskins are still the most numerous bird species in my yard and at my feeders as they were for most of the winter.

Now, I only have one year's previous experience with Rufous Hummingbirds, but last year, my first year to host the birds during the winter, they were last seen in my yard on March 27. So, already, they have stayed longer than their previous record and they are now outnumbered daily by the Ruby-throated Hummingbirds passing through. And still they linger.

There are plenty of blossoms for the birds to sip from now, but this little guy still likes to visit the feeder throughout the day.

On the other hand, our winter warblers do seem to have fled my yard and my Red-breasted Nuthatches are long gone, though other birders in the area have reported them throughout March. The season is definitely in transition. Who will be next to show up?

Wordless Wednesday: Changing

Goldfinches gone!

Something seemed different about the yard yesterday. And it wasn't just the awful wind that was blowing everything around. There were plenty of birds out braving the wind. There were even a few butterflies, including this very early Black Swallowtail that I had first seen a couple of days ago.

But amid all the familiar activity, something seemed to be missing. At first I couldn't put my finger on it. I scanned the bird feeders with my binoculars. They were covered in finches as usual. Lots and lots of Pine Siskins and...wait a minute! There were no goldfinches!

I scanned the feeders and the ground again and looked at the tree limbs where, for the last three months, American Goldfinches have waited their turn at the feeders. Nothing.

I listened for the familiar sound of their chattering or their flight song as they moved from place to place. Again, nothing.

I had noticed over the weekend that their numbers seemed down a bit, but could they all have absconded over night? All day long I looked for them and again today I've kept my eyes and ears open, but they are just not there. The goldfinches have gone. There may still be a few stray individuals around but the great mass of the flock has moved on.

This is very early for the goldfinches to have left. Normally, they stay in my yard until late March or even April. Last year, for example, I saw the last one in the yard on March 27. But it is well documented that global warming is changing the habits of many animals. Apparently, goldfinches and perhaps Black Swallowtail butterflies may be among them.

Goodbye, golden one, and safe journey. Your thistle feeders will be waiting for you again next December.

Goldfinches!

When I first stepped out my back door this morning, the first sound I heard was goldfinches! Yes, the American Goldfinch has arrived in my backyard.

I grabbed my camera and followed the sound to the sycamore tree in the middle of the yard where I found this one goldfinch preening in the early morning sun.

After breakfast, we went over to our birdseed source, Tractor Supply, and stocked up on thistle seed. Today the thistle socks get hung once again along with the other feeders and I'll be looking for the finches to be hanging on the socks and picking out the seeds.

The goldfinches have arrived - let the winter begin!

Will we get Pine Siskins?

Still here!

Since returning from our vacation, I had not seen any hummingbirds in the yard. I had decided that they had all probably moved along with the cooler weather we've been having lately. Yesterday, though, I was sitting in the backyard and out of the corner of my eye I caught a movement in a crape myrtle tree. I looked up to see this.

It was the little Rufous female that has been in residence here since late summer, sitting on one of her favorite perches. It seems like she really may be intending to spend the winter. I think she's the only one left now. At least, I haven't seen any others or heard any other activity around the yard.

Things continue to be pretty quiet here with little happening around the feeders. That's significant because this weekend is the start of Project FeederWatch. (Have you signed up yet? It's not too late!) My first two-day report period will be Saturday and Sunday. I just hope I'll have something to report.

One species that I hope to have to report is the Red-breasted Nuthatch. When I first walked outside a couple of mornings ago, I could swear that I heard one of the birds in the backyard, although I never actually caught sight of it. When we were in Big Bend, I did see one of the tiny birds and even managed to get a (not very good) picture.

This bird was observed and photographed at the Sam Nail Ranch site in the park. Wonderful little bird!

Also, I haven't yet actually seen any American Goldfinches here, only maybe heard one a few weeks ago, but last night I dreamed of the birds and I clearly saw them flying over my yard. Do dream birds count?

"I tawt I heard a..."

When I'm working in my garden, which is most every day, I'm always aware of the bird activity around me, even when it's not at the forefront of my consciousness. I may be concentrating on pulling weeds or deciding which limb to prune or digging a plant to be moved but I hear the Carolina Wren pair calling to each other in the shrubbery and the Northern Mockingbird practicing its oratorio on top of the utility poll. Those sounds plus all the others from the permanent resident birds that populate my yard are an expected part of the background noise of my life. But every so often, some unexpected notes make their way into the symphony.

Yesterday I was busily pulling weeds from an overgrown bed and half-listening to the afternoon chorus of birdsong when, suddenly, I was brought up short by one of those unexpected sounds. When the sound registered with me, I stood up and looked at the sky in the direction from which it seemed to have come. It was a faint sound from a bird high overhead. I looked but there was nothing there to see. I stood for a few minutes listening intently, but the sound was not repeated. Surely, I was mistaken. It's much too early, almost two months too early, but just for a moment, I could have sworn that I heard the inimitable flight song of the American Goldfinch!

Could the little golden birds actually be in this area this early in the fall? I usually don't see them until December, but we know from many sources in the North and Northeast that there is already a significant irruption of finches this year. Hungry winter finches are pouring down from Canada in large numbers because of a failure in their food crops. Pine Siskins have already been seen in some parts of the South and Red-breasted Nuthatches (not a finch, it's true, but a fellow traveler with them) have already been seen along the Gulf Coast, although not by me.

I have seen and heard several birds that are normally winter visitors to my yard - birds like the Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, and the Pine Warbler, all of which I did either see or hear in the yard yesterday. But, it is just extremely early to have the goldfinches arriving.

Still, there was that high, faint call. Or was it simply my imagination?

Have you seen American Goldfinches or Pine Siskins yet?  

Hungry finches

The weather has turned wintry and our favorite winter finches, the American Goldfinches, have started visiting our bird feeders.

Five goldfinches at the front yard feeder this morning.

I had not yet put up my thistle sock feeders. I always wait for that until I see the finches visiting the feeders, otherwise the thistle (nyger) seeds can hang there in the weather and grow stale before the birds start eating them and I have learned to my chagrin that finches will not eat stale seeds. But now that the birds are eating the black oil sunflower seeds, it's time to buy some fresh thistle seeds and get out the socks and hang them.

Not only are the goldfinches visiting the feeders, other birds are hitting the seeds buffet regularly this week. The drop in the temperatures has made them seek additional calories to help keep up their energy and keep warm. It's important for those of us who feed birds in our yards to make sure that the feeders are kept clean and stocked now. It's a particularly good idea now to offer foods with a high fat content. Most birds like suet. Many also like peanuts or peanut butter. If you only offer one type of seed though, the best choice is probably the black oil sunflower seed. These seeds, too, are fairly high in fat content and they are liked by perhaps the greatest variety of backyard birds.

Goldfinches!

During my weekend bird observations, I heard a familiar flight song in the skies over my yard, albeit one that I hadn't heard in about eight months, and I looked up to see two small birds passing overhead.  It's a little early, but I can definitely confirm that the American Goldfinches have arrived in our area.

American Goldfinch in drab winter dress.

Goldfinches, of course, are the iconic winter bird for bird-lovers here who put out food in winter. During the coldest parts of winter, hordes of the little birds can descend on a bird feeder and empty it in a few hours.

They are fond of thistle (or nyger) seed and that is the food that is most advertised for finches, but, in my yard, I find that they are just as fond of the black oil sunflower seed and that they take both kinds of seeds in just about equal measure.  Typically though, they do not start visiting my feeders until a little later. They tend to exhaust the wild food supply before they start depending on the feeders.

One of their favorite wild foods in Southeast Texas is the seed of the crape myrtle. That's a crape myrtle tree in which the goldfinch in the picture above is sitting. Flocks of the little birds will sit in the crape myrtle trees all day long picking out the tiny seeds and trilling their winter songs.That's a fun event for backyard birders to observe. Those who make the mistake of pruning their crape myrtle trees or shrubs before the seeds have a chance to mature miss out on this spectacle. 

In some years, goldfinches are accompanied in their migration to our area by the slightly smaller and much more argumentative finches, the Pine Siskins. These feisty little birds always create a lot of commotion and excitement at the feeders. They have often been present in my yard in recent winters.

 Pine Siskin shelling a seed at the feeder.

It'll be interesting see whether the Pine Siskins turn up again this year, but one thing is certain: There will be goldfinches!