American Goldfinch

My red and yellow sunflowers began blooming weeks ago, and their colors attract a variety of birds, insects, and squirrels. Among the visitors to my row of sunflowers have been some American Goldfinches, whose bright yellow summer plumage in the males is hard to miss.

Yet I had been unable to catch a decent picture of these lemon-yellow birds until this morning. I spotted several of them eating the sunflower heads, crept onto the front porch, and finally succeeded in getting some images worth keeping.

Almost as soon as the shutter clicked, this particular bird flew to a safer location in a tall pine tree. Of course, as soon as I put away the camera and took out the trash, the bird returned to its feeding spot. As if to mock me, joining the various birds at the sunflower garden was a Ruby-throated hummingbird, another of the neighborhood species I have been unable to photograph this summer that is so migratory in nature that it might invest in travel insurance.

That bird will have to wait.