American Goldfinch

Here's another American Goldfinch on Purple Coneflowers that've gone to seed. That "gone to seed" part is key. While Purple Coneflowers may be a cool place to sit and rest, they're also a great food source for the seed-loving American Goldfinches. Though you might not like having one of your chairs made out of chocolate or bacon, American Goldfinches don't seem to mind sitting where they eat.

And Purple Coneflower seeds must be pretty appealing to them since these flowers were in a pretty busy area, a flowerbed in front of the Duke Farms Orientation Center. They were willing to tolerate some large, loud primates milling around them to get their beaks on those tasty seed morsels. And this wasn't a one-off either; I got pictures of them in basically the same spot in prior years.

Given this was still breeding season, I suspect the lack of plumage vibrancy means this was a female.

September 9, 2022 at Duke Farms
Photo 248761189, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)


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