They say a bird in hand is worth two in the bush, in this case it's not true. Here is a photo of a Purple Finch ( female )at the end of her life cycle, she died moments after this photo was taken. I have many species of birds living here on my mountain top. This is the first one that I saw that met it's end. I believe it was old age even though the temperate has reached 110 on a few days this summer. I provide food, shelter and water for any birds that remain here and thats why they stay. My homemede feeder is mounted on a large Pine tree, I trunk, I have also added a few Cedar branches for them to rest on. Theres a lot of competition going on at the feeder. The Blue jays are the dominant ones at the feeder, but sometimes they will fill their cheeks with seeds and eat them elsewhere. There is very little fighting going on at the main feeder.