Cross Stitch Helper

Do you have a Cross Stitch Helper?

I have a couple of furry, floofy ones.

Here Padma Patel is helping me select a project or two!  

I know, I said my Lesser Goldfinches had left the area.

Turns out I was wrong.

This past weekend a couple of birds were active in the backyard feeders.

And look who else has shown up.

Fifteen Pine Siskens! 

No, no, make that 26 Pine Siskens!

In this photo the Pine Siskens and a couple of Goldfinches are feasting in harmony. The top bird is a Goldfinch as is the far right bird, and the bottom left bird, the others are all Pine Siskens.

How to tell them apart this time of year?

Well the Goldfinches are a bit larger and fatter.  They have black and white wings, a cream chest, and a bit of yellow on the throat.

The Pine Siskens have yellow bars on their wings and mottled brown and white patterned heads, chests and backs.

I was SO pleased to see them as they are very erratic. Some years they never come to the feeders.  

Other years sizable groups swarm the feeders.

The center cone of seeds had been left untouched most of the late summer and fall - look at the short work the Pine Siskens are making of it in less than a week's time.

They converse with one another constantly and continually. 

I wonder how long they'll stay.