Since I had to move the feeders closer to the house, it had it's advantages of taking some close-up pics of our molting Goldfinches in their various stages of turning their beautiful bright yellow...











I left to get a cup of coffee and came back to take some more pics. I noticed from our bedroom door as I was coming back into the room that all the Goldfinches were gone! As I got closer to the window, guess who?
Here we go again...


This time the squirrel decides to sit and ponder the situation...
You'll also notice our neighbor on the balcony was about to pick up his grill that fell over in the wind...


Right after the severe T-storms rolled through, I moved the feeders once again to the NE corner just before the NW winds started to blow...


The Goldfinches in the neighbor's tree were watching the new location and I was enjoying seeing them with their bright feathers in the tree before they are hidden when the leaves are all out...




And as the storm left, we were rewarded with a double rainbow...


Susan Louise
from Branford CT/ live in Lincoln NE
Zone 5

lots of really great photos, that squirrely squirrel again. I dont have any in my area, have rabbits though. I put out a finch feeder a month ago none yet. A guy in the store saw what I was getting , gave me a little rub like I wasnt getting near enough feed,, said we had lots of em in this area,,,, so where are they. I have one of those feeders that can be used for wildbird or finches, guess its a good thing I dont have them. Am I making any sense, I dont sound like it.

Steve
Martinsville, In
Heat zone 6
Sunset zone 35

Hey Steve! It takes a little while for them to discover the feeder, but once they do they'll be back as long as the feeder's there.

Susan Louise, now I see where all the male finches are! I've only seen females all winter. Unless the males don't have the bright yellow coloring in the winter? But still right now I am not seeing any with the yellow coloring. Just the dull greenish-yellow, which I assume are females. Your rainbow is real pretty. I saw one in March after a storm. They are awesome, no?

Diana
Upstate SC
Zone 7b

Diana,

If you look closely, there is a double rainbow...
I wish I had grabbed the camera sooner before it started to fade...oh well...

As far as the male Goldfinches, they just started to turn their golden yellow here last week. some of them are mid-molt stage, and there are a few almost in their full gold coat. In one of the pics it looks like it has a bad hair day with one of it's feathers about to fall out...hehehe

The males and females are hard to tell the difference in the winter. I'll have to go look for one of my other thread here and I'll attach it from when they were all in their "dull" winter coat...

Susan Louise
from Branford CT/ live in Lincoln NE
Zone 5

Diana.

Here's a pic from this past winter when they were all in their winter coats...


Susan Louise
from Branford CT/ live in Lincoln NE
Zone 5

Oh absolutely, Susan Louise, I did see the double rainbow and read what you wrote about it - and forgot
by the time I posted Very cool!

Here's a pic of my finches from January, but they still look this way here...? Maybe I'll start seeing changes soon?





Diana
Upstate SC
Zone 7b

Diana,

Take some pics of them today and compare to the pic you just posted from January. I'm sure they will have started molting already and you will see a difference



Susan Louise
from Branford CT/ live in Lincoln NE
Zone 5

Penny,

They had ones like that at our wild bird habitat store. We have one with a metal top...not clear plastic like Diana'a, but they did have them in the store. There are a couple of companies that make them. I don't know if this is the exact one Diana has...if not, very close...
http://tinyurl.com/cnrek9


Susan Louise
from Branford CT/ live in Lincoln NE
Zone 5

Susan Louise, your pictures are beatiful! My Goldfinches and Cardinals are welcome bright spots on this cold and windy day.

Linda
ne AL
zone 7b

Hello Linda,

Thank you...
I agree! I keep wishing I could get the Cardinals, Bluejays and Goldfinches together in a "family" portrait...so to speak...thinking it would be so awesome to see the blue, red and yellow feathers of them all in the same pic!
Dreaming.....
I have a some pics with a few different birds in them at the same time, but not those 3 together...or even 2 of them...

Susan Louise
from Branford CT/ live in Lincoln NE
Zone 5

I love your pictures Susan Louise! I've got to start taking pictures. Yesterday I was just thinking how much I really enjoyed watching the birds in my yard. I have feeders in both the front and back yard to attract all different types of birds. I keep black oiled sunflower seed, WBU mixed seed, safflower, thistle and suet out at all times. I have Carolina Chickadees, cardinals, mourning doves, goldfinch, purple finch, blue jays, tufted titmouse, and more that I can't think of.

It's gotten cold and windy here, too, in the past couple of days. This morning I took my dogs outside and noticed my hummingbird feeder had blown down. It was a Hummzinger (fortunately not a glass feeder) and had opened up with sugar water all over. Thank goodness it's not ant season! I've got to remember to take it down the next time high winds are predicted.

Carol R
Tennessee
USDA Hardiness Zone 7
Heat Zone 7

Carol, the ants will be crawling up there soon! I have two of the little WM feeders on my back porch that leak and big black ants cover the little puddles. I don't think those feeders leaked the first year I had them but I bought a couple of new ones last year and they all leaked. The hummers love those feeders though and it is more economical to use those, especially this early in the season when I only have a few hummers.

Linda
ne AL
zone 7b

Linda,

I hope I got all the sugar water cleaned off but probably not. I'm hoping for a big rain to completely clear it!

I gave up on the little WalMart feeders. They just leaked too much for me. The hummers did love them but they use the others too. I'm thinking about possibly hanging a few in with the flowers this year. I like the little tube feeders for this time of year, and they don't leak. The mini Hummzinger is what I have out now, and I just put 2 oz. in for right now. Haven't seen a hummingbird though. I've never seen one before the very end of April or early May.

Carol R
Tennessee
USDA Hardiness Zone 7
Heat Zone 7