Well, the two grosbeaks came back today, to munch away and give me some through-the-kitchen-window photo ops, so I figured I should update the pix.  Here is a grab bag of grosbeak images:

That’s it!  Hope you like ‘em and that some grosbeaks come your way soon!

Lan

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Just now, as I plod through my morning, taking care of email chores, contemplating a digging project outdoors in the boorish weather and hoping for clear birding skies later on, I caught a glimpse of strong black & white at the tail end of a bird at the back side of my biggest feeder, when I went into the kitchen for a coffee update.

My jaw dropped.  Had to be an Evening Grosbeak! I went to my office for the camera.  When I got back, there was a Cardinal at the feeder.  Up in the apple opposite my view was a male grosbeak.  I snatched a couple of shots, then saw the female outlined against the sky, also perched in the apple tree.  A couple more shots.  Then everything took off in a flurry.  Maybe, likely, an accipiter.  Whew!  And Whoopieee!  I hope the alert has worn off.  I’ll go back now and find out.

No big birds back yet.

Terrible photos, through the window glass, no light.   So who’s looking?!

Monsieur:

Madame:

Past visits of this great species here at my home have been infrequent, to say the least, but I would rather have a view like this one from a couple of years back, in the spring:

That’s more like it!  Stoked.  Evening Grosbeaks are a big deal on the Vineyard and the arrival is right in line with all the PUFIs and siskins and RB Nuts that we have had this fall.

While I have your attention, I should mention that there has been a hatch year male ruby-throated hummer up in Chilmark, coming to a feeder the last few days.  Things are rockin’, if your eyes are open!

Lan

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Scanning the plowed fields at the Farm Institute in Katama has been de rigeur for the past couple of weeks, anyway, for the regulars, and also for the more sought-after Upland Sandpiper and Buff-breasteds.  Neither of each until yesterday, when Rob Culbert, pro ecologist and local birding guide, emailed some of the local birders that on his Saturday morning field trip rounds he had espied up to five buffies bobbing and poking their way around the field.

I forwarded the email and made a couple of heads-up calls.  Warren went out mid-afternoon and saw three, fairly close to the road and typically working the field edges.  Pete was going to some annual road association meeting, so he had to reign in.  No feedback from others.  I waited as long as I could stand, figuring cooler air and later light would favor the photo op.  I found the three with little delay.  I parked and meandered out to get up-light of the target sandpipers.  Since buffies can be rather active and sometimes skittish when approached, the best bet is to assess their general direction trend and place myself in the way.  A couple times they seemed to fly when their proximity discomfort level ( PDL, a new less-than-technical term of mine) was reached; although, the last time they flew, their trajectory was within feet of my legs and about eighteen inches off the ground, so I guess it really wasn’t about me after all.

These images and Lanny McDowell Avian Art fine art prints are available for purchase. Contact me or View my gallery.

I have a list of folks who get an emailed notice from me with a URL to click on when I have posted a new blog.  There are also times when I just send out photos to the list without bothering to blog about them or post them to a listserve.  Not on the list?  Want to be? Just contact me  saying you want to be on the list or, better yet,  subscribe to Feedburner above, in the right side column for automatic blog feeds to your email.  Getting off the list is just as simple.

And birds are still cool!  Lan

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I am hoping that the quizzical look on this bird’s face will be reflected in yours.  No, not my face;  the face of the bird in the first photo.  It was looking, it turns out, at a swarm of DC cormorants, about twenty strong, gliding around on set wings, pretty much in unison, at considerable altitude.  The wings were outstretched straight enough to bring anhingas to mind.  Anyway, I had the luxury of seeing the pictured bird fly before I got the binocs on it, so I already had an ID before I looked more closely.  It would have been harder if I had only seen it on the ground or, especially, out of habitat context.  The bird and I and Stella were enjoying the post nor’easter brilliance of Eel Pond in Edgartown yesterday.

This is not a bird I have seen on the Vineyard.  Maybe others are more familiar with it.  The species, yes, but the plumage, no.  I do know it’s kind of tacky to not include the ident, but this time that’s how it is.  Let’s see what people come up with; and I hope there is some head scratching and page flipping going on.

(For some unknown tech reason I could not place the following email list invite and promo below the photos in this post.  Sign up!  It’s sooo easy.)

These images and Lanny McDowell Avian Art fine art prints are available for purchase. Contact me or View my gallery.

I have a list of folks who get an emailed notice from me with a URL to click on when I have posted a new blog.  There are also times when I just send out photos to the list without bothering to blog about them or post them to a listserve.  Not on the list?  Want to be? Just contact me  saying you want to be on the list or, better yet,  subscribe to Feedburner above, in the right side column for automatic blog feeds to your email.  Getting off the list is just as simple.

And birds are still cool!  Lan

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