Goldfinch

Somebody said to me that British birds are drab.  I replied that they were obviously not watching them closely. Who could ever call a Goldfinch drab?. The breeding season is on the way and they are singing their little hearts out. I can understand how the Victorians, in their ignorance, would want to capture them, close them in cages and keep them for show.  

When I lived in Italy, the countryfolk in remote places would still catch them and cross them with canaries to give offspring that had the Goldfinches colours and the even more accentuated calls of the Canaries.  I'm hoping the practice is dying.  

Mine are getting so much tamer now.  I can wash the kitchen windows on the inside without them flying away.  There is one that will venture close by when I'm sitting at the table close to the feeders but, open the door and they're off like the wind.  Slowly does it.