One of the advantages to traveling the world as a bird-lover is that even the most commonplace garden birds in one’s destination countries are exotic, exciting, and inspiring to the birder. Such is the case with the European Goldfinch. Though quite common, I never tire (even after many trips to the UIK) of seeing their lovely combination of acorn brown, white, vivid red, and golden yellow. In this particular study, the color palette takes a backseat to the sense of movement on which I focused.

UK Goldfinches are quite different than either of the American species, though they are just as beautiful. Historically, it’s worth noting that it is, of course, a European Goldfinch featured in the famous 1654 painting by Carel Fabritius that inspired Donna Tartt’s 2013 Pulitzer Prize-winning book and subsequent 2019 film adaptation. If you look closely at a lot of early Christian Art, you will also notice the presence of a goldfinch around the Christ Child. There is a fable that the Goldfinch tried to pluck the thorns from Jesus’s head when he was on the cross, and that his blood stained their foreheads red, resulting in the plumage we see today. I am always fascinated by how we humans project symbolism and human narrative onto nature!