July 27, 2007: Gresham, Multnomah County, OR: Chris reported to me that goldfinches were working in a patch of Canada thistle (Cirsium arvense), harvesting the seeds and no doubt scattering many of them to the wind. I made several attempts to photograph the action but as soon as I set up the camera the birds would vanish. Today was my lucky day and I managed to catch a female at work. The color pattern on the males is more distinctive but today must have been ladies day at the thistle patch. Botanists will recognize the root word “Carduus” as one of the two genera considered to be true thistles. The other genera is “Cirsium.”
byLarry
