Do Goldfinches Migrate ?

Jelster

Jelster

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Steve
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I ask, as I haven't seen my family of Goldies for over a week. I thought they stayed in the UK all year round. They're regular visitors to the feeder, and I even bought an additional feeder and a load of niger seed for them.

All I'm getting at the moment is Greenies and Sparrows.

Steve
 
From www.birdguides.com

"Most of those which breed in northern Europe migrate to winter around the Mediterranean. In Britain, the Goldfinch is a partial migrant, with some birds, mainly males, staying here in winter but others migrate in September and October to winter in Belgium, France and Spain. Females usually migrate more readily and for greater distances than males".

Bob
 
Though they are resident all year in the UK, you will find that many Goldfinches do migrate to Southern Europe during the winter months. This is probably why you haven't seen your family of them recently.

You might start to see Bramblings as we move into the Winter months, these are increasingly visiting bird tables in Winter, and they come in flocks. I remember being at a hide last year and around 150 of them moved through, all around me they were, fascinating sight.
 
Awwww :'(

They were my little bit of colour in what is generally a very drab world of garden birds. I haven't seen the Chaffinches or the tits for a while either.

The tray on my feeder station is now being regularly visited by a Collared Dove. Although a fine example, it's just not the same as having the bright colourful Goldies visit.

Roll on the spring .................

Steve
 
Well that's good news, I've just seen a solitary Goldfinch and a Blue Tit amongst the Greenfinches, so at least one of them is still around.

And to top it all off, we've had a squidger in the garden too, but the vertical poles of the feeders were too wet for him to climb. (and we don't have nuts!)

So I'm a lot happier now..... But you know the game, I grabbed the 40D, fitted the 70-300, went to my "shooting window" and the buggers had gone !

Steve
 
Glad they're still around. Sometimes they just b****r off for a while. The long tailed tits here are like that. Goodness knows where they go for a few days but I hear a tweeting frenzy and there they all are again.. all 10 of them!! :love:
 
Sorry, I've got nothing helpful to add, but all I could thing about when i saw the thread title was that sketch in Monty Pythons and the Holy Grail about migratory swallows .... "But then of course African swallows are not migratory" ;)
 
I didn't know this till a few days ago...apparently a flock is goldfinches is called a "charm".

Haven't seen my ones since Thursday - two adults and four or five juveniles, maybe they've gone abroad as last sight coincided with the noticeable change in temperature :(

Jelster, have some chaffinches in and around my garden, been here for about a month, last sighting about an hour ago. Quite a few ickle ones and a few adults :woot:
 
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