Baby birds now?  Amazingly, yes.   While many other birds are well on their way south for the winter, American Goldfinches are still dutifully raising their babies.

“Feed me, feed me”

One of the sounds of the fall garden here at my house is the insistent “feed me, feed me” from the baby goldfinches. Listen to the calls here.  Maybe you have heard this sound around your house.

You’re not feeding me fast enough!

Why do Goldfinches wait so long to have their families?  The food and nesting material they like the best are available later in the year.

Seed eater

By late August and September, many flowers have gone to seed.   American Goldfinches are almost exclusively seed eaters, which is actually quite unique. Most birds in our area feed their young a diet full of insects.   The only time a Goldfinch will eat a bug is by mistake.

Thistle down

The soft down of thistles and milkweed is used by Goldfinches for nesting material, and they eat the seeds as well.

Collecting materials for the nest

If you take a look in fields or roadsides, you may see Goldfinches perched on top of thistles, pulling the down out for their nests.

September garden

You can attract American Goldfinches to your garden by planting flowers like purple coneflowers and black eyed susans, then letting them go to seed in the late summer.

mmmm…breakfast!

You have to be willing to let a certain amount of neatness and perfection go, and let your garden mature and go a bit wild in the late summer, but it is totally worth it.

Wildlife Garden

Before you know it, you’ll have goldfinches stopping by.

Bright yellow male

Once the goldfinches find you, they will keep coming back.

Hi

And they might even bring their babies!

Thanks for visiting my blog!   Next time, I will be writing more about the rewards of gardening for wildlife.

For more on American Goldfinches, or any other bird you may be interested in, take a look at Cornell University’s excellent All About Birds website.

The post Baby Goldfinches appeared first on Leslie Abram Photography.

Who are you?

I admit it.  The first time a hummingbird moth buzzed past me in my garden, I thought it was a baby hummingbird.  I watched closely, trying to follow this speedy little creature as it hovered and zoomed between flowers.  I noticed its long curved proboscis curling in and out as it collected nectar from our flowers, and I realized it must be some kind of butterfly or moth.

Curly proboscis finds nectar

Meet the Hummingbird Clearwing Moth. Sure enough, these little moths are considered hummingbird mimics, and act in many of the same ways that hummingbirds do.   However, their life cycle is completely different, as they are moths, not birds!

Enjoying some Mexican Hyssop

In the fall, the caterpillars burrow into the soil to spend the winter as a brown, hard shelled pupae.  As spring days grow warmer, they emerge as adult moths.  The moths lay their little green eggs on the underside of leaves.   These eggs will hatch in about a week, and take about four weeks to become full sized caterpillars.  In Canada, the moths usually only go through one breeding cycle per year.

Bee balm is their all time favourite in my garden

Invite Hummingbird Moths to Your Garden. It’s easy!   Two very hardy, long-blooming and beautiful flowers are absolute favourites of these beauties.    Plant some Red Bee Balm and Mexican Hyssop, sit back, and enjoy the show!

The post It’s Not a Hummingbird…But What is it? appeared first on Leslie Abram Photography.