Our next door neighbor had quite a few plants growing in his backyard - several varieties of flowers, a couple of small trees…and a tall purple thistle.
The other day, I noticed that a pair of American Goldfinches had discovered the thistle.
The female stuck around longer than her mate because she wanted to collect as much thistle down as she possibly could.
I watched her through my camera lens as she kept pecking and pecking at the mostly-closed blossoms pulling out seed after seed.
I thought that, after several pecks, she’d fly off - presumably to her nest - with the mouthful she’d gathered. But instead, she kept at it until she really could hold no more in her beak.
I couldn’t count exactly how many seeds she’d gathered, but I’m pretty sure it was more than a dozen.
The thistle and most of the other plants are gone now. Our neighbor has done some re-landscaping that required removing the vegetation. So I’m really glad I got to see the lady goldfinch at work.
I only wish now that I could see the nest she apparently was lining.