The "Potato Chip" Birds!

What a wonderful day to be alive! Well, I suppose that any day is a wonderful day to be alive when faced with the alternative but, that said, it was gorgeous out today! I spent the afternoon planting more herbs in the new herb garden. This is seems to be "progressive" garden that will soon take over a goodly portion of the front yard. This is "my" garden! I have been wanting a full herb garden for quite some time now but since space is limited, the vegetable garden took precedence. It took the demise of Puddlepond to give me the herb garden! While out digging around in the dirt, I was listening to the many birds that call this area home..whether it be a permanent home or merely a winter get-away during migration. I could recognize the calls of many and enjoyed identifying them without looking up from my work. Then the newcomers' calls made me giggle! Potato chips! This could clearly be heard from the extreme amount of activity around the bird feeders. Po-Ta-To-Chips! Po-Ta-To-Chips! The little birds seemed to prefer a junk food snack to my seeds!

It seems that although not many of the migratory birds made it down this far, the Goldfinches are here in full force! I smiled as I watched the antics of these tiny birds as they "fought" over space on the feeders. I have two finch feeders, five sunflower seed feeders and two large "house" type feeders all within a small area. Even with this many feeders and all filled to capacity, the finches were scuffling for dominance of the eateries! I am supposing that those vying for the most satisfactory perches were the males. It is hard to tell since most are still in their "winter" plumage and have not acquired their brilliant yellow and black feathers! After a bit, they all settled in to empty the feeders.

The American Goldfinch is the only bird in its family that has a second molt in the spring..most molt only in the fall. This finch will completely molt its feathers in the early spring in preparation for breeding. It will lose its drab, winter plumage to gain the bright, eye-catching suit of body feathers! During these molts, it can look quite "patchy" causing some folks to believe the bird is not well. I assure you..the bird is fine..and extremely active!

Po-Ta-To-Chips! Yep...to my imaginative mind, the American Goldfinches were calling for potato chips! I giggled again! Nope, little birds, you will have to be happy with the birdseed! I do not even have any potato chips in the house! I watched for a bit then picked up another clump of chives to set in the border of the herb garden!