FOAM LAKE BIRDING
NO. 165
This
morning the hoar frost laden trees and clear blue skies provided us with some
beautiful panoramic scenery. I was
hoping to get one or two male Pine Grosbeaks sitting in one of the trees near
our feeders but no such luck. The
contrast among the red, blue and white of the birds, sky and hoar frost respectively
would have made a spectacular photo.
Anyway, our
feeders were very busy despite the absence of the Pine Grosbeaks. There were: three Red Breasted Nuthatches,
four woodpeckers - a pair of Downys and a pair of Hairys, two male House
Finches, several Chickadees, a half
dozen or so House Sparrows and about two dozen Redpolls. Even a Raven was lazily floating
overhead. The Pine Grosbeaks which have
been regulars at our feeders the last several weeks never did show up.
The
robin-sized Pine Grosbeak is one of our most colourful and widespread winter
birds. It is circumpolar in range
breeding throughout the Boreal forests in both Eurasia and North
America moving farther south in the winter. The female is essentially a grey bird with
some greenish brown on its head and tail.
The male is a striking pinkish red with black wings and tail. Both sexes have two prominent white wing
bars. For a relatively large bird it has
very soft and gentle vocalizations that seem to match perfectly with soft
falling snow. The Pine Grosbeak's
vocalizations do not resemble that of any other bird and can be used
confidently to identify it. For the more
accomplished birders it bears mentioning that the Pine Grosbeak is not really a
grosbeak but our largest finch with a big bill from which it erroneously gets
its name. As a field mark a finch's
flight is undulating while that of a grosbeak is in a straight line.
Although
the Pine Grosbeak does not resemble any other bird it is surprisingly often
confused with our Robin. When I was
growing up on the farm every year some neighbour would report seeing a small
flock of Robins in late February or early March. I am almost certain that the bird in question
was the grosbeak and not a Robin. To non
birders a Robin-sized bird with some red on it could easily be taken for a Robin. Quite recently I have had people tell me that
they used to see "Winter Robins" although such a bird does not
exist. Once again I am quite certain
that the bird being referred to is actually the Pine Grosbeak. But then again, I have never seen Robins in
winter nor have I ever been with anybody when they saw Robins in the winter so
I cannot confirm my suspicions.
Now that
Christmas season is upon us I will not be submitting anymore birding articles
until the middle of January or so. So,
for the final pictures of this year a red bird with a white snowy background
seems appropriate. Down east the
Cardinal is the preferred bird but since we do not have Cardinals here a Pine
Grosbeak will do just fine. This week's
pictures were taken several weeks ago in our backyard. The two male and female Pine Grosbeaks were feeding on
Black Oil seed that had been spilled from a hanging feeder to the ground below
while another lone male and female were in a tree checking things out below.
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