There wasn’t much going on in the clearing outside Hillers bird hide this afternoon, though there were plenty of photographers inside it, and I struggled to get photos of anything other than the Goldfinches. In the end though, I thought – well, what’s wrong with a Goldfinch? – and just went with the flow. After a while though, someone started cutting back a conifer out in the garden, and the noise of the power trimmer went through my head like… a power trimmer, so I decided to call it quits at the hide, and go off to find something quieter to do.
This elegant creature is a female Goldfinch: not only does her mask stop level with her eye, but her bill is smaller than that of the other main user of this perch, who’s shown in my second photo. His mask is a little larger than hers (and oddly, speckled with bright yellow feathers), and his bill is longer and sharper, with a slight but distinct downward curve. None of the differences are huge, but the overall effect is to give him a suggestion of a Roman profile, while her “nose” is quite short and neat.
R: L2, C5, D4.
