Bird Watching: DAILY PICS VOL. 339, 1 by SusanLouise

SusanLouise wrote:
Hello Folks,

All your pics are wonderful!!!

Alphaba, Thanks for starting the thread and my fav is the Whistling Ducks :)

Duc, Great juvie Osprey and Oriole shots!

Resin, thanks for sharing the Grey Heron!

Hack, Congrats for having RT's and adorable Carolina Chickadee...and I agree with Resin about the molting/adults :)

Lily, Great capture of the RH Woodpecker that early in the morning! :)

Burn, Very nice hawk captures! :)

Nanny, I love to watch the Goldfinches in our garden too...especially when they are nearly upside down on long stalks of Salvias...lol

Well folks, it'a a very sad evening here for DH and I. We've had an old Goldfinch that has been suffering the past 1-2 weeks...slowly declining and it has been painful to watch. He has been with us for 3 years now. Who knows how old he really was. He was easy to distinguish from our other male Goldfinches because of his pale feathers. The past couple of days has been really hard on him with temps in the high 90's and heat indicies between 110-115. "Grampy" would only fly when absolutely necessary. He would spend hours perched on the water cooler and hardly feed at all...mostly at dusk and early in the morning.
Each Spring it was a joy to see his return...so easy to pic out with his light yellow feathers and had become so accustomed to my meanderings in the yard/gardens/etc, he'd be the only one that didn't fly away like the other birds when I would be out there...bless his heart.
Anyway, Grampy just died. I went to clean and add fresh cool water in the birdbaths for the last time today and he was standing on one leg, panting heavy, eyes closed and all puffed up on the ground under the feeders. He allowed me to get very close to him and I gently picked him up. I cupped my hand enough so he wouldn't tumble out and I sat in one of our chairs on the patio. I spent about 10 minutes gently gliding my index finger from his head down to his back to give him comfort. I didn't want him to die alone after all the joy he brought us returning to us the past couple of years. He didn't die alone :)
Sorry folks, I'm all choked up right now...so very sad. I truly loved the little fella...
Grampy...RIP
Here are 2 pics of him...
This 1st one he has a thistle seed shell on it's back...one of the other birds accidently dropped on him (just an FYI to let you know what it was)...







This message was edited Aug 9, 2010 8:02 PM