Backyard Blessings

Today something wonderful happened. Some gorgeous goldfinches arrived in my backyard!

You have to understand how exciting this is for me. I have spent so much time, money and effort over the last few years trying to attract bluebirds to my yard.

We had a Wild Birds Unlimited Store in our town, and I became good friends with the owner, and I'm sure one of her best customers! Unfortunately, bluebirds are not seen very often in town, at least not in my part.  Bluebirds like country life in the orchards. My mom and dad received so much pleasure on our family farm, just sitting outside and watching them courting and raising their young, and I really wanted to attract them to my yard for the same reasons, but so far it has not happened.

Then I saw an ad on TV about Scott's Songbird seed, and I thought, you know, I'd really like to try and attract some bright yellow goldfinches. I studied the information on their web site and decided to give it a try.

So about three weeks ago I made a special trip to the pet store, and I stood there for the longest time in front of the bird feeders and tried to pick out just the right one for goldfinches. With the bag of seed and feeder in hand, I came home and hung up my latest effort on the corner of our shade structure.

Today, just before going to pick up my great-niece from school, I went to close the sliding back door, and lo and behold, the new feeder was covered with goldfinches! Oh my, was I excited...I really could not believe my eyes. :D

When I brought Elizabeth home, we enjoyed sitting and watching their antics as they fluttered in and stopped to feed. Then a big mockingbird would fly in and they'd flutter off. The goldfinches are very colorful~ the males bright yellow and the females more of a gold color, but they are small and dainty and a bit shy from what I have read.

I wondered how my two little doggies would react to the new visitors. Our Papillon, Chloe, is standing under the feeder right now, lapping up the spilled seed. We don't call her "the piglet" for nothing! Max, our Chihuahua/terrier mix, has his eyes on the latest intruders in his domain. Fortunately they are not barking at my beautiful birds, so perhaps they will all be able to co-exist!

I feel so blessed to have gorgeous, colorful songbirds in my yard, at last.