Backyard Birdwatch: The American Goldfinch (Carduelis tristis) Also Rises

Time: 6:40-7:00 a.m.

Weather Report: Partly Cloudy, 58°F, 91% Humidity, Winds: WSW @ 5 mph; feels like 58°F. It was much cooler (almost twenty degrees) than in weeks past.

Location: The backyard of my home in the upstate New York city of Rochester. (See map at the bottom of the left column--Castaway's Backyard Birdwatch Layout--for spacial reference.)

Bird Species/Markings/Features:--1 Male American Goldfinch
(Carduelis tristis)

Sights/Sounds/Activities:Quite a bit of sound in the air this morning, both aviary chatter and traffic noises from the nearby expressway traffic, in all likelihood, trapped under the partly cloudy skies.

Upon our return from Wyoming, I filled both the Droll Yankee cylindrical bird feeders in the front porch and backyard. The backyard feeder (attached to Hub 2 Tree, as see in the map below to the left) is filled with Nyjer (thistle) seed. Nyjer, based on my previous exeperience, does a great job attracting small song birds, like the American Goldfinch.

This morning the same AG came and rested on the top "rung" of the feeder to sit, observe, and eat. The AG's time was inetrrupted only once, by a prying North American Grey Squirrel (NAGS), who had come to pick up a snack of it's own. (Generally, the NAGS have more luck in the front yard where the feeder has larger openings for the black sunflower seeds.)

My attempts to take a digital pic of the AG were foiled by the dark canopy of trees under which the feeder is located. Both pics that I did snap were too dark and murky, and therfore, unwrthy of publication.

Notes: The "landscape" of my backyard birdwatch has changed significntly since my last observation, now almost three weeks ago. Gone are both the fence separating mine and our neighbor's yards, and the residents of the nest on our home.

Apparently deserted, there is no sign of any of the four American Robins (1 male, 1 female, and two fledgings) which previously lived in the nest. As you may recall, this family's experience, from the nest beging built, eggs layed, and hatched and the fledgings first flight, were the focus of the majoirty of my previous posts.

I hope the whole family is doing well.

Breath in, Breathe out... YOU AND I ARE ALIVE!