| While I sat around last week waiting for some sunshine and searching for color, some fine-feathered friends offered a bright spot. While the American goldfinches weren't as colorful as they typically are in the summer, they still showed just a little bit of their gold. Goldfinches are often thought of as a summer bird, but here in my yard they visit all year round. |  |
However, that is not to say that they are the same birds year round.
| "I seemed to have more goldfinches in the summer than in the winter. " Information from local birder Gary Edwards' book "Birds of Venango County" described the finches as a common feeder bird and a year-round resident. Edwards wrote that the finches are some of the later nesters with their nesting activity starting in July in conjunction with the production of thistle seeds. He also penned that there have been some finch nests still active as late as early September. So it would be possible to have goldfinch fledglings hanging around into early fall. As early as mid April, the finches trade their drabber olive plumage for their summer gold. According to my observations, I seemed to have more goldfinches in the summer than in the winter. They utilized the feeders and the garden plants. They fed on the catnip mint seeds and the sunflower seeds even before the flowers were done blooming. |   |
| Sometimes they raised such a clamor. Last spring and summer, they perched in the old hemlock tree in large numbers. It seemed as if the who tree was chattering. In the winter, they were a little quieter. However, that didn't keep them from squabbling at each other at the feeder. Meanwhile some recent snowfalls have quieted things down in the woodlands. |  |
Nonetheless, the snowfall excited the canines, who raced around and tore a toy frog apart.
That's just the nature of things 'round here.
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