FOAM LAKE BIRDING
No. 149
Yesterday,
we saw our first Baltimore Oriole of the year which means that the last of the
summer migrants are finally here. As yet
I have not seen a Yellow Warbler nor a House Wren but they will probably be here
before this article goes into print. We
have set out grapefruit halves for the oriole and, hopefully, we have the same
success in attracting the oriole as we have had in the past.
For the
first time ever we had a male Rose Breasted Grosbeak at our black oil seed feeder. He stayed for three days and then was gone,
probably flying away to the nesting grounds in and around the Boreal
Forest. A small flock of Goldfinches have
since made up for his absence.
As I
mentioned in Article No. 92, the male Rose Breasted Grosbeak, in my opinion, is
our most beautiful bird. This time I was
able to get some good photos of a male in his finest spring plumage in bright
sunlight. They turned out so well that I
decided to use them in this week's article.
In black and white the grosbeak looks quite ordinary but in colour he is
something else. One picture has him at
the feeder with a Harris Sparrow; the second and third have him perched in a tree
nearby. Check my website at
www.johnthebirder.com to see the grosbeak in his striking colours.
For the next little while we will be in
southern California. During that time I intend to write about some
of the birds that are common to that area but not necessarily confined to
it.
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