I had gone to the post office the other day, and a striking looking bird with a red face caught my eye. It was actually eating at a feeder that someone had attached to their window. I only had my phone with me for photos, and the bird was much too far away for any sort of decent photo, but serendipitously, I saw an article in my news feed on my phone the next day about common garden birds in the UK, and lo and behold, this same bird was the cover photo for the article! It turned out to be a European goldfinch. There seems to be very little gold on it to call it a goldfinch, especially when I compare it to the American goldfinches we have at home, which are almost entirely yellow, but I haven't studied enough about how bird naming took place, so perhaps there is a good reason for its name. Regardless of the name, the bird is just a stunning bird, and so lovely to think it would be common in anyone's garden space here. I'm tempted to put a feeder out on my balcony now to see if I can attract birds to it, given that there are some small trees and shrubs in the garden areas of of flat complex. I hope I didn't look too creepy taking photos up at someone's window, but I couldn't see inside--nor did I want to--at that angle, and I just wanted to get good photos of the birds.
Again, it was overcast and a bit dark when we went to the post office this morning, but the shots are decent enough to share, anyway.
Update: July 29, 2022
Since seeing this bird only at the bird feeder of someone's flat shortly after arriving in London, I've spotted these beauties in a few places since then, and apparently I didn't think to update my blog. As a result, I've decided to put them in an album so you can admire them that way. I got a decent photo of one at St Michael's Mount last year in Cornwall, a lovely photo of one at St Justinian's in Pembrokeshire, Wales, in May, and just the other day during a visit to Chester, in Cheshire Country, I spotted a sweet juvenile who would have been born sometime in the spring. I really love these birds. They're so pretty, and I wish I could have some hanging out at my place because they also sing beautifully--though I can't complain about the sparrows, wrens, and blackbirds we get with the occasional chirp from the yellow wagtails.
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