The American Goldfinch is the state bird of New Jersey but in my 50+ years as a resident of that state, I seldom saw them. Even in the farmlands of Warren, Hunterdon and Sussex Counties, the Goldfinch did not appear to be terribly abundant. Only when I started visiting the Adirondacks of New York State did I start to see them in large numbers as flocks of Goldfinches would scavenge the roadsides near farms for any grain, flower, or weed seeds. It would not be unusual to see 30 or 40 of the birds whirl along the edge of the road as you drove along. Half of that number would be the brightly colored males looking dapper in their yellow and black with just a few spots of white on wings and tail.
I was pleased when I found Goldfinches to be regular visitors to the Aerie’s feeders last spring and summer. Not so pleased at the amount of thistle seed I went through when the regular 25-30 Goldies decided to make my feeders a regular stop in their daily rounds. (Little did I know that they would be a mere blip on the radar compared to the massive numbers of Common Redpolls that showed up this winter!) For some reason, the Goldfinches seem to be focusing on the black oil sunflower seeds this year and leaving the thistle alone. Perhaps it has gone stale? I’ll have to dump the thistle feed and scrub the feeder before refilling it just to make sure.
No comments:
Post a Comment