Thursday 8 December 2011

Goldfinch Behaviour.

Over the last few weeks I have been observing goldfinch at a local feeding station trying to capture images of the birds in flight.There is always a lot of noisy squabbling and threat posturing with these birds and that is all I thought it was until I caught  some images with my camera that froze the action. I could now see how vicious these little birds could be to each other and when two birds were evenly matched in the pecking order the fighting began.They seem to lock bills twisting and turning to see which is the strongest,another tactic is to attack from above with there claws attacking the head and body of the other bird.  I make no apologies for showing the bird feeders and the quality of some of the images as they were taken using ISO 2500. to try an get a fast enough shutter speed to freeze the action in poor light.The whole purpose of this post is to show some of the behaviour of the Goldfinch and even though I have seen them squabbling plenty of times before I have never noticed physical contact until now when my camera captured it.I have posted a few of the images below and would welcome any comments.









                                                   

6 comments:

Tim James said...

Hi Martin. A really informative post and the images show something I've witnessed several times but haven't captured. They can certainly be vicious little things but – in the wider scheme of things – there will, of course, be a reason for it. No doubt, the strongest individuals going on to become parents of feisty, demanding youngsters. Really nice work. Thanks.

Millhouse Photography said...

Hi Martin

I really like these fighting images, especially the wrestle at the bottom. It's like a slo-mo Jackie Chan, mid-air, martial arts combat!

RAY said...

I am really glad you posted these Martin, they show what you cannot see with the naked eye , very interesting , the sixth seventh and eight photos are superb , I don't really understand your comment about the feeders ?

Brian Rafferty said...

Martin. It is interesting to see what the camera captures.You have done well here and shown some interesting behaviour from the goldfinches.Just rewards for all the time you put in at your feeding station. Well done.

Ritchie said...

Hi friends,

Goldfinches are strikingly beautiful. They are almost tropical in appearance with long, pointed beaks that make them specialists in extracting seeds. Surprisingly, it is only the males that are able to extract seeds from teasel heads, they cling to the stem and tear into the seed head, accessing the seeds inside by probing with their extra long bill. Thanks a lot......

Wildlife Photography

Unknown said...

Thank you all for your comments and interest in my blog.

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