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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Goldfinches (1 Viewer)

Angelface

Angelface

Well-known member
A couple of months ago much to my delight we started to get visits from a pair of Goldfinches and hoped that they would stay around and maybe bring their chicks to feed as well. I am thrilled because this week they and another pair have brought their chicks who are absolutely gorgeous and seem to be here all the time now. They have done very well and now seem to be independent of the parents. I was wondering when do the red feathers start to appear and also are they likely to stay all the time now or will they all just move on? They love their sunflower hearts by the way.
 
Angelface said:
A couple of months ago much to my delight we started to get visits from a pair of Goldfinches and hoped that they would stay around and maybe bring their chicks to feed as well. I am thrilled because this week they and another pair have brought their chicks who are absolutely gorgeous and seem to be here all the time now. They have done very well and now seem to be independent of the parents. I was wondering when do the red feathers start to appear and also are they likely to stay all the time now or will they all just move on? They love their sunflower hearts by the way.
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Hi Chrissie,

I`m afraid that I can`t answer your question about the timing of the red faces, but if my experience last year is anything to go by, you have a good chance of them staying around. I had up to 10 young in the garden this time last year, plus the adults, and through the winter they continued to come. There was a break in the autumn when I guess they found plenty of natural food, but once that was gone they were back regularly.

So, keep on with the sunflower hearts and hope they will see your garden as a good place to dine through the winter.
 
Hello Chrissie, When I started feeding sunflower hearts on a regular basis I was eventually rewarded like yourself with the odd Goldfinch. I kept up the feeding through out the year and more Goldfinches came. Now I have a constant stream of them all year round, (up to thirty once!) very rarley if ever does a day go by and I hav'nt seen a Goldfinch on the feeders. So I would say that if you establish a little colony through regular feeding then the likelyhood is they will stay. You may get times of the year when you see less of them but they are not far away.
 
Hi Chrissie

I have a pair of Goldfinches visiting my garden just now too, and I had some fledglings last year too. I found that after I came back from holiday and filled up the feeders again, the goldfinches didn't come back until a good few months later. I know they were nearby though, because I saw, and still see small parties moving about the area. Just as long as you keep up the sunflower hearst, they should stay. What I'm planning on doing is introducing some thistles to the garden so that there'll be food for them while I'm not here.

All the best!
 
Angelface said:
I was wondering when do the red feathers start to appear and also are they likely to stay all the time now or will they all just move on? They love their sunflower hearts by the way.
Click to expand...

Hi Chrissie,

Your goldies will get their red feathers when they gain their 1st winter plumage in late summer/early autumn. The old country name for a juvenile goldie is a 'greypate'. Goldfinches are partial migrants, some of our birds heading south to winter in France and Spain. Resident birds tend to flock during the winter, so you may lose your birds - or gain a host of others!

saluki
 
Grrrrr! After six months of having niger seed and sunflower hearts on offer I still haven't see a single goldie in my garden, yet people tell me they are around in NE Hants. Still, the greenfinches and bullfinches enjoy the niger ...
 
Hi Kits.

Patience my friend: it took me around a year to get the first one, and they've been with me every day since. The best day 30+, regularly between 6 and 10. Persevere; it's well worth it.

All the best.
Baz.
 
A year !!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh my !!!!!!!!

Well, I shall continue waiting patiently, Baz. Thanks for the encouragement.
 
Kits said:
Grrrrr! After six months of having niger seed and sunflower hearts on offer I still haven't see a single goldie in my garden, yet people tell me they are around in NE Hants. Still, the greenfinches and bullfinches enjoy the niger ...
Click to expand...


hello Kit

Don't be greedy!!!!! You are sooooo lucky to get bullfinches, they ae much rarer than goldfinches so treasure them.

hello Angel

Don't worry, you will soon be buying the niger and sunflowers by the sackfull!!! Once they find you they never let you go!!

Enjoy - don't you love the little dance and song the fledglings make to their parents whilst waiting to be fed - magic.

Bridie

Bridie
 
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