Looks to me like it has been pecking seeds
out of moist sandy soil and has some fragments of soil adhering to its bill at
the point where the bill would not be cleaned by being pushed into the earth
From: Julian Robinson
[
Sent: Friday, August 25, 2006 9:27
AM
To: Canberra Birds
Subject: [canberrabirds] Unusual
Goldfinch?
It
probably won't excite anyone on this list when I report my happy discovery that
we have regular European Goldfinches here in Narrabundah lower, at least
in winter, but I still lov'em and they make a nice change from black and white
birds that seem to be the only ones we get on the golf course.
Anyway yesterday a lone Goldfinch was sitting in a tree all fluffed up
and looking perhaps unhappy. I've never seen a Goldfinch on its own
before. Then I noticed it's strange beak appearance which I enclose in
case it is interesting. I don't know whether this is a rare or well known bird
pox, or perhaps just the remains of eating something sticky . Do flocking
birds often sit alone?
