a bit of bright on August 15, 2024

This was the view that greeted me when I arrived by the Bow River at the Inglewood Bird Sanctuary this morning, August 15.  What a bright and colourful scene! This look could only mean one thing, which is, wildfire smoke is upon us once again!  It was not bad when I left home, I could not smell it plus there were bits of blue high in the sky.  All felt good so I went about a morning of birding.  

What stood out were the number of American Goldfinches both Adults and Juveniles.  They were active and entertaining, so bright and colourful. They captured my attention and I invested lots of time savouring these sightings.  Seeing so many young ones so late in the season peaked my curiosity.   I did enjoy seeing other birds but I will focus on this species for this blog post. I spotted five young ones belonging to two separate broods.  I was only able to capture photos of three of the five in addition to photos of two male adults. 

The following two photos are of two different juveniles belonging to the same brood.  They were on separate branches on the same tree, both seemed to be waiting for breakfast.  They did not move from these spots.  I could see part of another one close by partially covered by leaves.  I waited awhile but no adult showed up with snacks.  

This is an adult male American Goldfinch that was in another part of The Sanctuary.

Off in another direction, I spotted activity deep in the trees. This was what I saw, a male feeding a juvenile.  A second juvenile was out of range of this photo and for the time that I watched, the male did not bring snacks to the other juvenile.  

 Finally, I switched to video mode to record this.

I did not spend the length of time at The Sanctuary that I had planned.  The wildfire smoke came in quickly and enveloped the area.  I hit the pathway to the parking lot, closed all vents in my vehicle then aimed north.  When I checked the air quality rating once I got home, it said +10 on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the worst!  I was home to stay for the rest of the day!

I went on a learning lesson!  I googled the American Goldfinch to satisfy my curiosity.  They breed and nest later than other species.  They begin to breed in late June.  Peak nesting season for them is late July and even into early August.  They begin this whole process later because they wait for when plants have produced fibrous seeds to build nests with and to feed to their young.

The balance of the day was spent inside, so to pass the hours I created this watercolour painting from the photo I took this morning.  I wanted to stay with the theme of bright and colourful while it was grey, dark and dismal outside.