Goldfinch

I don't know where the Goldfinches are this year!  For a while I thought I was not going to see any at all, but then one arrived, then another, and then I had four at once on the feeder. But that is it - just four!  Two years ago I took a shot of my feeding station then counted the Goldfinches on it - fifteen in total, adults and young. They like sunflower hearts and niger seeds normally - but this year more niger is eaten by at least one Collared Dove than by the Goldfinches. I have never seen Collared Doves eat niger before - but of course their very narrow pointed beaks are able to get into the niger feeder holes. I am trying to get a shot of this happening but they don't hang about long enough. This Goldfinch posed nicely long enough for me to get a typical shot - such perfectly marked colours - look as if they have been painted!