Friday, February 25, 2011

Female Evening Grosbeaks Of The Vermilon River. A Post to Camera Critters





A truly welcome visitor both to the forest and the bird feeders, the Evening Grosbeak is a voracious eater so be prepared to watch your supply of  sunflower seeds dwindle. They are a finch and will sometimes appear with American Goldfinch. It's hard to tell the female grosbeak from the winter plumage of the Goldfinch so check out the beak if you have a flock hit your feeders, but you'll know something is up just by the size of the flock. By the way "evening" has nothing to do with anything.The male is even more colourful with a dark head and yellow horns.

A few more facts:
1) In spring the beak colour changes from pale yellow to green the colour of  new spruce buds.
2) They are natural predators of spruce bud worms.
3)They eat raw salt so you'll see them on roadways.
4) They inhabit mixed and coniferous forests, and can be seen across Canada and the US from west to east, but were initially a western mountainous bird.

For more Information the best site is http://www.hwww.ca/hww2.asp?id=40&cid=7

36 comments:

  1. I get very excited when I see one. They're not common at my feeders. My woods is mainly deciduous, and maybe a little too far South, which may be why. I do usually have a pair of their cousins, the Rose-breasted, that hang around in the summer.

    These are lovely shots, Gary!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Interesting facts about this bird that I didn't know!! It's great that they eat spruce bud worm. I wish there were more of them out there feasting on this tasty treat!! ~karen

    ReplyDelete
  3. Occasionally we'll see them here too in the summer. They will usually swoop in and clean a bush of berries or rose hips. Nice shots of your 'visitors'.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wonderful images, the Grosbeaks,in Britain, never comes to the feeders, fancy that.

    ReplyDelete
  5. They are pretty birds, great photos. I would love to see these beauties at my feeders.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Lovely shots. I guess they are a sign of approaching spring?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Nice images... since I grew up in NYC I was never much of a birder other than pigeons (LOL). Now I'm working on getting past my "Mammalcentric" view of things! post like your are helping get to recognize a wider range of birds than I ever had done before.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I am always impressed at bird photos! Focusing is perfect even the bird is covered with lots of tree branches. Informative post, as always:)
    Have a wonderful weekend.
    Yoshi

    ReplyDelete
  9. They are interesting, Louise. I'd also like to see the rosy variety.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hi Karen. They have big appetites, which is great for the destruction of the spruce bud worm, but still the problem is warmer winters.

    ReplyDelete
  11. No, they thrive in the winter also ladyfi.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Thanks John for the compliments. How did you get to Dallas from the big apple?

    ReplyDelete
  13. Great shots, love his colours:)

    ReplyDelete
  14. What beautiful bird and you really captured them.
    Think Spring!

    ReplyDelete
  15. It looks like a beautiful bird. I sometimes wonder how creatures like this survive the bitter cold.

    ReplyDelete
  16. A very attractive bird Ggary and nice shots of them, but I do wonder what the "evening" is all about.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Hi IGW and she certainly is beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Hi Rajesh and thanks for the kind words.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Hi Al. I guess that's why they eat so much.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Hi Phil. Early mountain settlers thought they saw them only at night.Hence the name.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Very interesting, Gary, thank you! They do look like finches (someone I know calls them "flinches") especially the beak ("gros" beak means "fat" beak, I believe).
    -- K

    Kay, Alberta, Canada
    An Unfittie's Guide to Adventurous Travel

    ReplyDelete
  22. Hi Kay. "Gros" as in french for large. It lets them crack seeds and get those spruce bud worms.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Thanks for all the information about the grosbeaks!

    ReplyDelete
  24. Great grosbeak photos! Hope to catch a glimpse of them sometime. Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete