Birds and Nature

The brief video clip below also shows a fledgling fluttering it's wings to beg the adult to feed it then being fed. Evening Grosbeaks--feeding fledgling from SeEtta Moss on Vimeo . Last week I started hearing Evening Grosbeak calls so I put out the tray feeders with black oil sunflower seeds (they are so big they do best with tray feeders). I expect that these are some of the Evening Grosbeaks that spent spring in my neighborhood then left in May to go to their breeding locales at higher elevation. I am pleased that only about 1 dozen of the 3 dozen or so birds did returned as the larger flock was an awful lot of birds to host. In these pics an adult bird is feeding a sunflower seed to a fledgling. I have only seen 1 fledgling at a time so I don't know if there is more than just the one. And I don't know if the adult bird is a parent or just an adult that is in the right place for begging. The fledglings are funny as they often perch right in the tray full ...

Like most bird species the male Evening Grosbeak are much more colorful than the females. Their gold overall plumage and large size make them stand out.   Birds of North America online notes, "Irruptions often include other fringillids, such as Pine Siskin (Carduelis pinus)...."  And interestingly the other bird in the pic above is a Pine Siskin, one of a number that have come in at the same time as the Evening Grosbeaks. They most often seen in flocks and so they can empty feeders quickly. An 'irruptive' species, they wander in search of food resources (for the whole flock, not just feeders in one yard) showing up irregularly. In a couple of past years Evening Grosbeak stayed in my area until around May when they moved to breeding areas (they breed in conifers and spruce forests which are at higher elevation than Canon City). And they even returned a couple of years with their offspring and fed the kids in my feeders, funny looking as the offspring ar...

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 usually get Evening Grosbeaks at my feeders in the spring while many lowland areas only see them in the winter. This year was a big year for them with hundreds around Canon City and Florence including several dozen at least in my neighborhood. They were going through a lot of seed (I only feed safflower when the bears are out but they seem to love it) so I was buying it by the 25 lb bag at a feed store. Fyi, that is a Pine Siskin sharing the feeder in the top pic demonstrating how large these Evening Grosbeak are (which translates into how much they eat especially when there are 6-10 of them at your feeders at a time). The number of Evening Grosbeaks has steadily decreased in the past 10 days as birds have presumably moved into their upland coniferous habitats documented in the Colo Breeding Bird Atlas I as preferred by them in this state. For the past 3 days including this morning I have only seen 2 birds, a male and female, at my feeders. It is time for them to be in the...