Photo-a-Day  (Thursday, 18th July, 2019)

What gorgeous colouring - he/she certainly stands out...

A cracking photo is that Harry.

Beautiful.

Pin sharp photo, Harry.

Well done, sir.!!

We've had four of these, this year, in our garden in the North East. They chewed off all the blooms on my cornflower - easily forgiven, they'll bloom again.

Up here in Shevy we get plenty of Goldfinches, you can put out Niger seeds, they like them,

An excellent study of a finch Harry showing the passerine feet and the perfectly evolved beak which got Darwin thinking.
Once in danger due to the Victorian cage bird trade , it's now common to see flocks of these delightful birds which are rightly called ' charms'.

Harry's goldfinch is a male, Veronica;
The red completely surrounding the eye, whereas on a female only a half of the eye is covered.

Well done Harry ,hes a beauty, looks like hes well fed too.
Great photo.

Harry,that's a lovely shot of a beautiful little bird.

Nicely turned out too.

Ah! I should have looked in my little book of Observer's Birds by Rob Hume Philip....bought specially to draw and paint them!

Lovely bird a goldie ,well done Harry ,

I hadn't known that you can paint birds, as well, Veronica, . . . crikey!, . . . no easy subject matter.
The closest I came to painting a bird successfully had been a laboured yet completed effort on one of those pre-printed watercolour boards that came in a variety of subjects during the 1980s; I'd bought that which showed a robin on a branch - and another which showed a fishing-harbour scene . . . boats and quayside clutter etc. I still find it surprising that birds eggs haven't become a popular subject for leisure artists, as they're truly jewel-like in their appearance, and wouldn't need any shadows; just a grasp of creating form on a flat surface (which you can handle quite readily).
Just think, a nice-size framed set of 'eggs belonging to the Owl family of birds', on your living room wall.
Your No. 3 sable is over there.

Still have my Observers Book of Birds from 1959.A Sunday school prize for attendance

A cracking shot. We had had occasional visits by goldfinches before - but this year they've really homed in on the sunflower hearts and nyjer (Home Bargains' new spelling) seed, and we've had a couple of pairs and their young visiting.

Only 'loose' robins for Christmas cards Philip Oh and a pastel Kingfisher and an Owl. But pencil ones are easier! I would have thought you would find them easy!!!!
Pw my book came from a charity shop. It is a revised edition from 1996. Lovely illustrations inside of the birds.

Rev we can still say NIGER Delta and NIGER ia, and I dont think the Goldfinches will mind about there seeds having a name change