How Many Birds Are In This Picture?

July 08, 2011
Corey
Birds
15 Comments

Or, to be more specific, how many American Goldfinch can you find in this picture? It was taken up the street from my folks’ home over the long Independence Day weekend. Seeing as I was just trying to get a lousy shot of a single bird I was surprised by what I found when I got this image downloaded onto my computer. If you click the picture you will get a larger image. Neat, right? Leave your number in the comments…

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A new version of the image with the birds circled has been added below. Did you find them all?

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UPDATE! Jochen argued for their being six species in the picture, one more just above and the right of the bird on the lower left and one just below and to the right of the right most bird. I agree with the former but not the latter (though it is possible that there is a sixth bird). Judge for yourself…

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Corey

Corey is a New Yorker who lived most of his life in upstate New York but has lived in Queens since 2008. He's only been birding since 2005 but has garnered a respectable life list by birding whenever he wasn't working as a union representative or spending time with his family. He lives in Forest Hills with Daisy, their son, Desmond Shearwater, and their indoor cat, B.B. His bird photographs have appeared on the Today Show, in Birding, Living Bird Magazine, Bird Watcher's Digest, and many other fine publications. He is also the author of the American Birding Association Field Guide to the Birds of New York.

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15 Comments

John

July 08, 2011 9:33:08 am

I see three.

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Jochen

July 08, 2011 9:41:56 am

Six.

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Prairiebirder

July 08, 2011 10:06:50 am

I see four goldfinches.

prairiebirder

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Nathaniel

July 08, 2011 11:17:37 am

Four!

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Leslie

July 08, 2011 11:44:29 am

I see 4 goldfinches and a bunch of yellow leaves… I think.

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Nick

July 08, 2011 1:22:05 pm

I see 4, too

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Riz

July 08, 2011 1:30:23 pm

I too think 4 birds – plus a few ‘golden leaves’!

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Bonnie

July 08, 2011 3:51:36 pm

I see four. What a great jigsaw puzzle this would make.

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Jan Axel

July 08, 2011 4:10:06 pm

I see at least four birds; two adult males and two female-plumaged birds

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Lindsey

July 08, 2011 5:41:28 pm

Took me a while to find the 6th one!

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Clare and Grant-Broome Western Australia

July 08, 2011 7:19:15 pm

Four-one obvious male, two obvious female and a trick leaf one.

Did you get the lousy shot of the single bird as well that you had set out to get?! 🙂

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Corey

July 09, 2011 7:30:13 am

Four is correct!

Congratulations to everyone!

And, yes, Clare, I did get the lousy picture. 🙂

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Jochen

July 09, 2011 8:28:02 am

No, it is six, I’ll show you Monday where they are!

Cheers,
Jochen 🙂

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Corey

July 11, 2011 6:40:10 am

@Jochen: I’ll give you five, but the post is updated so folks can decide for themselves…

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guest

July 20, 2011 11:53:48 am

I agree with Jochen – 6 birds…. they are just too ’round’ to be leaves

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