American Goldfinches

May1st, 2013 Surrey B.C. Sunny but cool.
Before I starting birding I had always enjoyed watching the colourful American goldfinch. I found them hard to approach so when circumstances aligned to photograph them at a feeder I couldn't pass it up.
The opportunity came at the Grass residence where I was attending a Langley Field Naturalists monthly meeting. The Grass Goldfinches must be the best fed and fattest birds anywhere in the Lower Mainland so their frequent visits to the feeder made photographing easy.
The key was to chose a composition with a clean background and then watch for a catchlight in the bird's eye. The brilliant Yellow of the bird, the blue sky and the red cherry tree leaves are all complimentary colours which all makes for an image that is easy on the eye.  For me it was a well spent twenty minutes.

Female American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis)

Male American Goldfinch