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It's high time that I had a bird on here - after all, birds are in the title of this blog! So here's some ornithological eye candy, the American Goldfinch, Spinus tristis. This stunning male was photographed in Adams County, as it plundered thistle feed from one of John Howard's feeders. Goldfinches are nearly vegan, you know.
Goldfinches are late nesters, and kicking it into high gear about now. This is one of our most common bird species, and rare to non-existent is the field trip that doesn't produce "wild canaries". Abundant though they are, American Goldfinch ranks very high on the list of our showiest birds. Males are also noteworthy in that they may have the most conspicuous molt of any of our songbirds. The transformation of the males from somber winter plumage into the Day-Glo electric lemon of summer is noted and remarked upon by scores of backyard bird-watchers.