Colorful Pine Grosbeaks

Pine Grosbeaks having lunch at Fisher's feeders. Margaret Madsen photo

We have yet to see beautiful red Pine Grosbeaks at our feeders here in Naicam, but our friends Bob and Clistine are lucky to have them in their yard two hours further north. I took this shot during our recent visit. They appear to be all males and juvenile males which are a rusty color. The females apparently prefer to head off for an all-girls winter holiday.

Occasionally we have lovely Rose-breasted Grosbeaks stop by here and it is always a thrill to see the large black and white birds with florescent hot pink bibs.

The yellow Evening Grosbeaks also don't make it to our yard often, but they do visit Bob and Clistine. In fact, they are as popular in their yard as House Sparrows are in ours. When a big noisy mob moves in, they empty the feeders in no time flat, rather like a biblical plague of locusts clearing everything in sight, and cause Bob to gnash his teeth. When they lived at Emma Lake, he was known to take down all his feeders in an attempt to convince the rotters his restaurant was closed for the season.

They have White-breasted Nuthatches; we have Red-breasted Nuthatches. but by and large, our winter feeder visitors are pretty much the same.

Male Pine Grosbeak looks like a Christmas ornament high in this tree.

In our winter world devoid of strong color, the red of the Pine Grosbeak is a treat for the eyes. I must admit, however, that this red pales in comparison to the vivid strong scarlet of the Northern Cardinal. The first cardinal I saw was near the waterfront in Oakville, ON, when we went down for the wedding of Shiri and Etta's youngest daughter, Terrra to her John. What a jolt it was to see the incredibly bright red birds, glowing like Christmas tree bulbs against the green leaves.

When Kristin, Peter and the kids moved to Kentucky, the first thing Ian told me about their new home was that they had cardinals in their yard. He painted a cardinal for me on a wooden plaque which hangs above my kitchen sink - next best thing to having a window over the sink.