I was feeling left out of the siskin bonanza yet again, but looked up from
the keyboard just now to see Goldfinches, Purple Finches, House Finches, and
three *Pine Siskins* enjoying both the thistle seed feeder and the regular
feeder. The siskins are indeed more flighty that the other finches, but
they've been around for at least 10-15 minutes. I can see quite a bit of
variety in the amount of yellow visible on their wings-one has quite a
noticeable buttery yellow; the others don't.

 

And just like that, they're all gone. I wonder if a hawk just flew by?

 

Some observations: I have many more House Finches than last year, and a
couple of these birds have the eye disease. I feel bad for them-they scratch
their eyes against twigs all the time. I have fewer White-throated Sparrows
than most years, but more Juncos. The Mourning Dove gang is up to 30. 

 

My husband gave me a new bird feeder for Christmas. It is made from recycled
plastic, so it's a little slippery. The roof overhangs the feeder tray more
than our other feeder, and it took the birds a couple of weeks to get the
hang of landing on it. Some jays still haven't figured it out. The Nuthatch
just lands on the peak of the roof, slides down to the edge, and then flips
upside down and does a half roll to land on the platform. Quite the comic!

 

Pat Valdata

Elkton, MD

 

"The natural function of the wing is to soar upwards and carry that which is
heavy up to the place where dwells the race of gods. More than any other
thing that pertains to the body it partakes of the nature of the divine."
--Plato