The Great Backyard Bird Count is an annual four-day event that engages bird watchers of all ages in counting birds to create a real-time snapshot of where the birds are. The 16th annual GBBC is Friday, February 15, through Monday, February 18, 2013.
The visitors to my yard the last two days have been Mourning Doves, Chickadees, Red Polls, Pileated Woodpecker, Nuthatch, Purple Finch, Downing Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker, Crows, Red Bellied Woodpecker and the Gold Finches but the Gold Finches aren’t so “gold” right now with the male displaying its dull olive winter plumage.
The Gold Finch molts its body feathers twice a year, once in late winter and again in late summer. The brightening yellow of male goldfinches each spring is one welcome mark of approaching warm months so I’m looking forward to the ‘gold’ color again.
‘Golden’ Gold Finch
