Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Brightly Coloured Goldfinch

It was with pleasure that I took this photo of a brightly coloured Goldfinch in Bird Alley yesterday afternoon, for it has seemed with the recent duration of rainy , dark days that all beauty and bright colour had left.  We have had very few bird visitors recently, thus this bright goldfinch attracted me.
I was assuming this was a male Goldfinch until I saw my next Goldfinch photo which had a full black cap! , and then I realized that in  my first photo pictured , although the Goldfinch had a brightly coloured lemon yellow body , it did not have a black cap!

Then looking carefully and by cropping I got a closer look at the first Goldfinch picture, and yes, I  
could see the beginnings of black starting to show on the bird's head.  So, yes I am calling it a male, but is it a mature male just having undergone a spring molt? or is it a young male just coming into its own by growing in its distinctive black cap?
Its not a big problem or an issue to me, just a reminder to me to look look carefully at what I am seeing before I jump to identification conclusions.
Nature has so much beauty to observe, just enjoy its beauty by taking that second look.
Have a great sunny, warm day everyone as such is forecasted today!!

2 comments:

  1. I love the summer colors of the Goldfinches. Good shots of both.

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  2. Interesting that your Goldfinches are so different from ours, which are about as colourful as birds get over here! Beautiful photos.

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