Gotta Look For The Silver Lining

This has been one of those days you just want to curl up under a blanket and sleep all day. It's been raining since about 4 AM and doesn't look like it is going to be done for a while. Temps in the upper 40's all day and about 3 inches of rain so far.

So let's look for the silver lining. First, we can always use the rain. I'm sure the farmers might disagree since they have just started combining soybeans but we do need the moisture. The way I look at it is .... This could be the middle of December and I would have to be shoveling about 3 foot or more of snow. Got to be positive when it comes to mother nature.

Am. Goldfinch

One of the things we all like to do in the fall is watch the birds change from their summer breeding colors into their fall non-breeding colors. In the case of the Goldfinch, it's sometimes hard to tell them apart especially when you have a lot of them together.

So I set out the other day to try and capture the males and females so I could show you the difference. The only problem turned out is that once I got the picture of individual birds, I couldn't tell them apart.

So here are some pictures where I managed to get the male and female side-by-side. As time goes on, you won't be able to tell them apart till next spring. In the picture below, the male is on the left...female right. The male is slightly more yellow at this point.

The next picture, the female is on the left and male right. Colors are getting closer but the male is still a little brighter.

And in the last picture, it's hard to tell except for the second bird from the left which is a male who still has a little of the black cap left.