In spring, male goldfinches prepare for matchmaking and breeding by moulting into a lovely gold plumage:

By Autumn, this gold is a mere memory and males become inseparable in appearance from females.

We saw many goldfinches, likely a mixture of males and females, at Col. Sam Smith Park this morning.

Other birds:

Species list: red-necked grebe, double-crested cormorant, Canada goose, mallard, American Black duck, gadwall, mute swan, ring-billed gull, herring gull, downy woodpecker, American robin, golden-crowned kinglet, European starling, yellow-rumped warbler, house sparrow, common grackle, red-winged blackbird, northern cardinal, American goldfinch, white-crowned sparrow, white throated sparrow. (21 species)

This morning’s group:

NATURE POETRY

The rising sun had crowned the hills,
And added beauty to the plain;
O grand and wondrous spectacle!
That only nature could explain.                        – Olivia Ward Bush-Banks (1869–1944)

Miles Hearn