I spotted a goldfinch sitting on a thistle pulling out the tufts and tossing them to the side. I'm not certain what it was after, but I did manage to get one shot in focus.
Good manual focus through the stems, Jeff. I have been disappointed in the past to g frond that all it takes to ruin your focus is a single stem of leaf. There is a Canadian publication titled ^Thistle: Edible from Bud to Root^, so perhaps there is something below the fluffy seed distribution stems that he finds tasty. The book indicates that only certain parts of the plant are okay, while others can give us humans digestive problems, so it is reasonable to think that birds are better suited to eating them. Whatever he is after, he is definitely serious about digging it out.
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Happy Trails
-nik