January 10, 2004
Not a shy siskin
The pine siskin have been sucking down the thistle seed in our feeder pretty fast. I was out filling it up and when I went to hang it back up I noticed this siskin sitting two feet away from me on the other feeder waiting impatiently for me to get done. I had my camera in my pocket, so I pulled it out and snapped a few pictures one-handed. It was completely fearless, not even twitching as I fired the flash at it repeatedly. After a couple of minutes of this it got even more impatient and flew to the feeder I was still holding in my other hand! I hung the feeder up with the bird perched on it the whole time and took a few more shots including the one here. The first picture is full frame in macro mode with no zoom at all. I had the lens just a few inches away. The second is a full-resolution detail from the same picture.
I was worried that the bird was injured as it was holding its wing kind of strangely, but after sitting and eating on the feeder for ten minutes while I did some other chores in the yard it flew away seeming fine.
Posted by jeffy at January 10, 2004 05:29 PM