Mostly Grosbeaks (but not Always) 11/6/2020

 

    It only took 9 days for Evening Grosbeaks to go from celebrated new yard bird to nuisance bird.  Last Wednesday when they first showed up I was thrilled by the two 2-minute visits of first 10 then one single bird. Then this week their numbers increased as the time they spent at my feeders started to grow as well.  By this Wednesday I had up to 49 of them visiting a couple of times per hour for 10-15 minutes at a time.  Today it was all Evening Grosbeaks all the time, as about 20 showed up  at 8:30 AM and were seen or heard all day until after 4 PM.  Mid-morning I counted 78 but there were more in the area, because the flock of about 50 that landed right before the high count had come from the north over my neighbors yard where an equally large flock momentarily joined them but split off and headed east before they made it to my yard.  

  Plenty of photo ops were to be had and I decided to try to get some flight shots.

  They arrive one at a time but often leave together.

   By early afternoon it was time to try for close-ups through an open window from inside the house. 

  This single female Purple Finch managed to sneak a couple seeds during a lull in the Grosbeak frenzy. 

   The Rough-legged Hawk below was photographed yesterday at a relatively low altitude.

   All kidding aside these birds are pretty damn cool.  Tips to get the Evening Grosbeaks to frequent your yard.....Striped Sunflower seeds either on platform feeders of spread on the ground.