Musings and Observations

There are some bird species that simply have facial expressions almost demanding anthropomorphism. After a few days of capturing images with my Wingcapes BirdCam at my number one grosbeak-attracting birdfeeder, I have come to the conclusion that the typical male Evening Grosbeak, Coccothraustes vespertinus, is (with all due deference to the Birdchick) not at all […]

Having recently reviewed Bill Thompson III’s new Young Birder’s Guide to Birds of Eastern North America in the Peterson Field Guides series and being highly impressed by it, I have been following developments surrounding it with great interest. So I was particularly pleased to learn that the good people at birdJam have teamed up with […]

Basic logic would seem to imply that in terms of pecking order at bird feeders, smaller birds would be displaced by larger ones. To a large extent this is in fact true – except in the case of Pine Siskins, Carduelis pinus. Perhaps the siskins that have recent reappeared at our feeders are simply more […]

The Evening Grosbeaks, Coccothraustes vespertinus, returned in force this afternoon. One or two have been showing up near the feeders for weeks but they have seemed somewhat detached and lost; looking around as one does when arriving first at a restaurant and the rest of the expected party has not yet arrived. Today, however, the […]