At the finch feeder

There are goldfinches a LOT of the time, but occasionally I get a glimpse of a pair of house finches.

Almost the end

With a forecast for a widespread frost last night, I went out and picked most everything that was left in the garden. All that remains besides a few green tomatoes that I don't care about (anybody want 'em to fry???) are the carrots and a couple of beets. Here's what I ended up picking... a pretty good cartful.

In the pail are beans. They look a little overripe, don't they? :-) Actually, I'm saving them for seed for next year. I've done that for many years, and it works well.

Update: The green tomatoes have been claimed, thanks to the blog! I love it! :-) They will not be fried, though, but will go into sweet pickle relish instead.

It's also almost the end of the bird bathing season. This brave house finch did take a bath yesterday. He was hesitant, though. First he had a few drinks, then sat there and debated for awhile, finally stepping into the water... and just stood there. I guess he was getting adjusted to the chilly water. He did do a little spashing, and here he is after the bath, still looking a little ruffled.

Pretty redhead

I'd been seeing a pair of house finches come to drink from the birdbath every now and then, but I was never able to grab the camera and get it focused quickly enough before they flew away. Finally, on Saturday, I was successful! Here's the elusive pair.

They flew to the ground after they left the bath, so I was standing in the window trying to get a good distant shot of them, when all of a sudden they flew back to the deck railing right in front of me!

This is bland-looking female.

And here's the pretty male.

How come the male birds always get the pretty colors??? Not fair!!! ;-)

Update: It has been brought to my attention that these are not purple finches, as first stated, but instead the very-similar-looking house finches. I have edited the post to say so, lest I misinform anyone searching the internet for images of purple finches, rather than just adding this correction at the bottom. Thank you to my knowledgeable informant! :-)