Hear My Song!

A couple of weeks ago I reported having found what I took to be the goldfinches’ nest blown from a tree, with four tiny eggs broken. Their silence following this confirmed my suspicion. However, I’m delighted to find that they have started again. I have seen nesting material gathered.

The male perches at the top of the hedge loudly proclaiming his territory. I love his song. It starts out like a weak dunnock call, but after a warm up he bursts forth with a wonderful canary-like song, turning this way and that to send it far and wide. In this shot I caught him in the act.

This was a challenging shot, with the intense white of the sky behind him. To my eye he was little more than a silhouette.

Goldfinch, Carduelis carduelis. Introduced to New Zealand in the 1870s.