Tag Archives: goldfinches

The sound of an altercation among the...

By Dave Bonta | Published December 4, 2011 at 11:15 am

The sound of an altercation among the goldfinches—like a dozen jazz soloists playing at once. The only cloud in the sky finds the sun.

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Fog. High in a skeletal birch, the...

By Dave Bonta | Published November 22, 2011 at 9:52 am

Fog. High in a skeletal birch, the silhouettes of ten goldfinches are almost the right size for leaves, moving in their own slow wind.

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A male and female goldfinch glean seeds...

By Dave Bonta | Published August 17, 2011 at 10:08 am

A male and female goldfinch glean seeds from a tall bull thistle. She eats in silence while he in his loud yellow suit chatters on and on.

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Goldfinches twitter in the tops of...

By Dave Bonta | Published July 10, 2011 at 9:46 am

Goldfinches twitter in the tops of the locusts at sunrise, bright as beacons. A yellow hoverfly watches me from four inches away.

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Goldfinch in the garden: a coneflower...

By Dave Bonta | Published July 3, 2011 at 9:36 am

Goldfinch in the garden: a coneflower stem breaks under his weight and he moves to another, probing the dark centers for a hint of seed.

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Incessant rain. A chitter of goldfinches...

By Dave Bonta | Published April 13, 2011 at 11:01 am

Incessant rain. A chitter of goldfinches halfway through their molt: part green, part yellow, like spicebush or forsythia in reverse.

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That first snow still cloaks the frozen...

By Dave Bonta | Published December 5, 2010 at 9:16 am

That first snow still cloaks the frozen earth. When the wind dies, I can hear the 75 finches at my parents’ birdfeeder, a twittering bedlam.

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A goldfinch gone green lands among...

By Dave Bonta | Published September 1, 2010 at 8:34 am

A goldfinch gone green lands among walnut leaves that have gone yellow. Below, a juvenile red-bellied woodpecker, nape turning orange.

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Overcast and quiet except for a red...

By Dave Bonta | Published August 25, 2010 at 8:33 am

Overcast and quiet except for a red-eyed vireo and a male goldfinch, whose head is already beginning to turn green, like rusting bronze.

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Scattered bird calls—cardinal...

By Dave Bonta | Published August 11, 2010 at 8:38 am

Scattered bird calls—cardinal, vireo, field sparrow—all sound perfunctory except for the goldfinches, who are in thistle heaven at last.

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