A couple of days ago, we had a very colorful visitor in the garden, and I was fortunate enough to have my camera along to snap a few quick photos before this little fellow moved on.
This is my entry for the Feathered Friends - Show Me A Photo Contest Round 119 challenge organized by 
I was pulling weeds in our vegetable garden when I noticed a very bright yellow "flash" in the branches of our apricot tree, less than 15 feet away.
At first, I couldn't see anything because it was constantly moving, but then it went briefly to a bare branch.
We don't see these little guys very often, and typically they are moving too fast to photograph.
In daily language, we typically call them "Yellow Finches," but it's actually an "American Goldfinch" (Spinus tristis).
The males are the brightly colored yellow; the females are much more subdued in their coloring.
This one was a male, in its bright spring/summer plumage.
It's actually a fairly common bird in many parts of the USA, and it's easy to recognize because of its bright coloring.
It's a small sparrow-sized bird.
This one stayed in the apricot tree for about 2-3 minutes before moving on. It was just long enough that I got a few good shots of it... along with a LOT of shot of nothing but leaves.
It's actually the first one we've seen this spring/early summer. I feel very fortunate that it was so close, and that I had a camera ready... I was actually hoping to photograph one of the swallowtail butterflies that are currently flying around our area.
Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you enjoyed the pictures!
All images are our own, unless otherwise credited!