Golden Girl

I spotted this female American Goldfinch at a distance, as she was happily breakfasting on the bright flowers of the Scarlet Runner Beans, seen in yesterday's blip.

When she flew up onto the deck railing and posed, I took a dozen or so shots, and thanked her. 

And then she flew up onto the metal post that our hummingbird feeder hangs from, and proceeded to move through a variety of what could only be called poses, including a full frontal view and a "don't forget about my beautiful backside, too" move (see extras).

The American Goldfinch is the state bird of Washington. It's always the male of the species that's shown in that official role, but I think it's time for a change!

Blip 1970

(P.S. The young female Pileated Woodpecker seen here a couple of days ago is now confidently enjoying the suet and seed cake in the high feeder, after a brief exploratory investigation of the wooden post -- see extras.)