Shut Your Beak

Practice and perseverance. I spent a long time trying to capture birds in flight in my garden. One of my favourite birds is the Goldfinch. When we visited the site which eventually became the place where we built our home, it was full of Goldfinches. I had never seen so many in the one place. The collective noun for a flock of Goldfinch is a Charm and I was certainly charmed. It is the reason we went on to name our house Finchcroft and more recently the name of this website.

They love sunflower seed hearts and as the feeder starts to empty they squabble and fight for position. In this photo the bird to the left had been on the feeder. The seed is still in his beak. The other was trying to take his place and so the very brief battle ensued.

What makes this so special for me is the behaviour ~ the holding of the beak. This all happened in a millisecond and I was so delighted to capture it.