American Goldfinch: Eating Oleander Aphids
©2020 Vonda Zwick
Shutter Speed : 1/640 sec |
Aperture : f/6.3 |
ISO : 1000 |
Focal Length : 600mm
Camera : Canon EOS 5D Mark IV |
Lens : 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM | Contemporary 015
Not a great photo and not high resolution, but an unusual find worth posting: American Goldfinch eating Oleander Aphids. I have always read and believed that goldfinches are strict vegetarians. They raise their young late in the season because they feed them exclusively seed-based diets and they need to wait until the seeds are ripe. Any insects consumed is completely by accident. However, this goldfinch was seated on a Sullivant's milkweed flower that was budding and just starting to bloom. There was not a seed pod on that plant to feed from. Yet she persisted in picking aphids off the plant for a good several minutes, even though there are plenty of seed heads of many native plant species to be had throughout my garden right now (not to mention birdfeeders with sunflower hearts).
Species in this Photo: American Goldfinch, Sullivant's Milkweed, Oleander Aphid
Location
Backyard and Home
Shot Date
Aug. 9, 2020, 4:43 p.m.