The State Bird of What States?

The American or Eastern Goldfinch have arrived!  Actually, they've been here for quite a while now.  Initially, they were enjoying our Purple Cone Flowers and Catnip.  However, the Sunflowers are now in full bloom, so they're dining on these seeds too.  Busy little birds and a tad skittish but fun to watch.

Name the three states that the Goldfinch is the state bird of?!

The first is a picture of a Goldfinch pair, with the male on the left -

Here the male is flashing his butt to the camera lady - 

The female spies that she's being spied on and photographed -

Answer - New Jersey, Iowa and Washington

All pictures taken by Ms. Emilie.

Visiting Bird - II

 

This time of year, when the Echinacea flowers are turning to seed, the Goldfinch appear to gorge themselves.  Like the Hummingbirds, they're in and out all day long.  You can hear them singing away and talking to one another.  They also enjoy our Thistle and Sunflowers too.

 

There is a male and female Goldfinch dinning in the above photo.

Eastern Goldfinches

The Eastern or American Goldfinch (Carduelis tristis), also known as the Wild Canary.

Above is a picture of a male goldfinch perching on a thistle plant and helping himself to the seeds.

Here is a picture of a female goldfinch. She's not to far from the male and patiently waiting for her opportunity to get at the thistle seeds.

We're fortunate enough to have these beautiful bird spending a good portion of the summer and fall in and out of our yard. They love eating the seeds that come from our Coneflowers, Black-Eyed Susan's and Thistle, which we have an abundance of. With the colder weather starting to move in these guy are filling up and will be moving out.