Evening Grosbeaks used to visit my feeders all winter, but since I moved in the fall of 2007, I haven't even seen one feeding off the sunflower seeds that I put out daily. Like the Purple Finches, I have seen them high up in the trees, but they haven't come down for seeds. They must be lots of food around because of the milder winters we've been having recently.
The male evening grosbeaks are a brighter shade of yellow with bright yellow markings above the eyes. The three images I am sharing today were taken in a two second time span. It looks like the bird is looking directly at me, but I am not certain it even saw me in the open basement window. Note the bright markings over the eyes and the large beak, which is perfect for breaking seeds. The last two images show the same bird after it flew to the ground to eat seeds. I liked the vignetting effect in the fourth image and am showing the fifth to illustrate what happens when a pine sisken walked into the scene. It is closer to me so it entirely out of focus, but since I was focusing on the eyes of the grosbeak, it is still in focus. Normally I would have deleted this photo, but thought I may be able to use it sometime - and I just did!! :)
Several years ago these birds inspired me to write a short poem, which I revised this morning:
Evening Grosbeaks
Brightening cold winter days
You come in search of my gifts
Waiting patiently in nearby trees
You sing your praise to life
Swooping cautiously to the ground
You consume seeds from a faraway place
Rising quickly upward
You merge with the heavens
Disappearing until another day
You have no knowledge of the gifts you have given me.
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