Remember that goldfinch nest full of tiny eggs that the Little Misses found in a purple loosestrife plant?
Goldfinch Nest, Greatly Enlarged
They’ve hatched! We hate to disturb the birds, but this morning we went with my camera and got this shot.
Young Goldfinches
Miss 8 was disappointed because she had expected brilliant yellow hatchlings, not half-naked ones. According to our bird book, they will not grow yellow feathers until next year. At least one of the parents left a golden feather behind.
According to The Handbook of Nature Study (free download available here), it is common for goldfinches to make their nests in August, but usually they line them with thistle down rather than uncomposted futon bits. Whatever’s available, I suppose.
Next week we plan to visit them again. Hopefully they will have more feathers then, and if I can get a good photo, I’ll share it with you.
Since the original post was featured on Simple Lives Thursday, I’m linking to this week’s Simple Lives Thursday so people (and especially Wardeh of Gnowfglins and her kids) can see what happened to the eggs.
How neat. What a great learning experience.
Thank you for the update! I’ve been wondering how your little nest was doing. : )