Charmed, I'm Sure

Hyperion and I went out to Lost Grove Lake and had a good long walk around the lake, and the creek feeding into it.  It was my first time there, and I loved it!  The wind was blowing, and made beautiful variations of sound as it blew through the pines, the tall grasses, and the corn fields.  Before long the sun came out strong enough to make me remove my knit hat and tie my coat around my waist.

One of the most charming things we saw there were these beautiful little American Goldfinches.

They were down on the mud flats, which have appeared due to the drought, and were drinking water from some of the many deep footprints punctuating the shoreline.

These, I will have you know, are the very first goldfinches that I have ever photographed in the wild.  I spent some time this summer sitting near my neighbor's sunflower bed, hoping to capture one of these finches with my camera, but had no success.  But here were a pair, totally unexpected - a little gift for my heart.

In a field above the lake, there were hundreds of sunflower plants, brown and bowed, but ready to weather the brutalities of winter, each one a pantry chock full of seeds for these little finches.

The goldfinch is an especially beautiful bird, with the male's displaying bright yellow plumage during the mating season. They seem to be happy, inquisitive birds, and a group of them together is known as a "charm".  Maybe that's why I always feel it is a sign of good luck when I see them zipping up and down our road as I drive into town on errands.

This bird is sometimes known as the eastern goldfinch, and the wild canary.  It is also the state bird of Iowa.