The thistles don’t just seem to be a tasty source of food for the goldfinches. If you stay close to them for a while, you’ll notice that they’re a safe haven for many insects – in my case, it was a whole bunch of grasshoppers happily courting. I only took notice when one of them fluttered to the next branch, because both in terms of color and their bizarre, spiky shapes, they blend in well with the structure of the thistles.