Has anyone else who regularly has goldfinches noticed a change this last week or two?
All winter I have had a small charm of these delightful birds. They have been on my feeders or in the tree most of the day and given me a great deal of pleasure, not to mention them bringing some cousins - a couple of siskins, greenfinch and redpolls. They are feisty little things, not put off by my bigger birds, including noisy starlings, jackdaws and pigeons.
Last week the numbers reduced to just 2, and these 2 behave completely differently to my normal ones, and are clearly new to my garden and not part of my group. Although they are visiting every day, several times, they are nervous and easily spooked. They drop down from the tree and fly around the feeder then back to the tree, taking a long time to decide to have a feed. Once they have a feed they are off again within a minute especially when other birds appear. My "regulars" have disappeared completely.
I am wondering if my regulars have gone off somewhere else to do their courting and breeding, and these 2 new ones have arrived back from their winter home on the Continent.
Cheers, Linda.
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Susan H said: Maybe my old ones are on their way south to you.
Maybe my old ones are on their way south to you.
Is that a polite way of saying the only goldfinches I will see are second-hand??????? ROFL
The necessity of bird-watching is a really good reason for avoiding all forms of housework.
The dust will still be there tomorrow - the birds may not be!
Mmmmmmm ... but ready house trained. LOL
The thing is I bought a new Nyjer Feeder and filled it up for the Goldies for an extra treat
The older Nyjer Feeder was the one they preferred. Now they cannot make head no tail of the 2 feeders they have to to feed from - there is not pleasing everyone.
I can hear their calls up in the tree but cannot see them do I know that they are there - hiding from me!
Regards
Kathy and Dave