For some reason, birds seem to really like my driveway. I see more birds out there than I do in the back garden where there are more trees and plants.

I happened to glance out the kitchen window on Saturday afternoon and to my surprise, a flock of birds were hopping around in the drive. I dropped what I was doing and hurried to get the camera and fit the long lens.

I didn’t want to open the window and scare them away so I just shot through the glass. I took a lot of photos hoping that I’d get some good ones.

They are European Goldfinches, described in my bird book as a feral species found around towns, farms and settlements in Australia. They gather in large flocks in autumn and winter and feed on seeds.  They are quite common, I’ve seen them in the garden before but never a whole flock.

Some of them even hopped closer and started to search for seeds right in front of the window. They stayed quite a while before something startled them and they all took off.

Further Reading:

http://www.australianbushbirds.info/infc/carduelis_carduelis.html

https://www.animalwised.com/how-to-tell-a-male-from-a-female-goldfinch-195.html