Birds and Nature

Almost 2 weeks ago while I was in the grip of a bad bout of acute bronchitis I heard some bird calls that are distinctive and belong to Evening Grosbeaks. I was really frustrated because this species hasn't visited my yard in over a year but I didn't feel well enough to put out bird food for them. Fortunately my neighbor had put out a number of feeders and the birds were well fed so have stayed around. And a flock of these big birds, they are about the size of robins, can go through a lot of black oil sunflower seeds. And finally I started feeling well enough to put out seed so they are also frequenting my feeders. While the Evening Grosbeak in the bottom pics were at my feeders those in the top 2 pics were loafing in one of my pine trees. While all these are pics of the girls, I will post pics of the boys next. SeEtta

I found this handsome Eastern Bluebird over the week-end near the Pathfinder Park east of Canon City. While Western and Mountain Bluebirds are common here in south central Colorado we usually have a few Eastern Bluebirds visit in the winter and they have nested a few times too. I looked again yesterday hoping to see a female as well as this male but only he was visible. Hopefully a female will come along and they will nest. For clarification since Eastern and Western Bluebirds are fairly similar. The male Eastern Bluebirds have rusty throats while male Western Bluebirds have blue throats. Male Eastern Bluebirds have blue backs while on male Western Bluebirds the rusty orange on their breasts extends to their upper backs. Harder to discern the bellies of Western Bluebirds are grayish while the beliies of Eastern Bluebirds are bright white. SeEtta