Evening Grosbeak (Coccothraustes vespertinus) photos by Larry Jordan
Last weekend I spotted a single male Evening Grosbeak (Coccothraustes vespertinus) in my yard. This weekend, there were three males and a female to ponder.
Bringing the dog up to the yard through the pasture gate, he always runs toward the water feature and scares all the birds into flight, but this day, at least four medium sized birds stayed right where they were perched, in the top branches of the scrub oak by the pond. I now had four visiting grosbeaks!
I went inside to get my camera, hoping they would hang around for awhile. They did. Click on photos for full sized images.
The sun came out from behind the clouds long enough for me to get some shots of one of the males stretching
showing his always conspicuous white wing patches
Then, all of a sudden, one of the males made his way down to the waterfall to drink as I hurriedly repositioned my digiscoping setup to get one decent photo of him close up.
Luckily for me, the female Evening Grosbeak followed him down
Her beauty is a bit more subtle than the male, like the salmon highlights on her throat
Then they all made it over to my new hopper feeder and began to chow down on black oil sunflower seed.
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{ 24 comments… read them below or add one }
Nice shots! And I am glad you pointed out the salmon in the female’s throat. I never noticed that before.
Then again, I very rarely see Evening Grosbeaks so that it’s no surprise that I missed such an obscure mark.
Wishing I had some good birds in my yard…
Corey´s last post ..Birding Lodges – Part 1 – Paradise in Portugal
Great shot!
Kah Wai
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Kah Wai Lin´s last post ..Dipper in Nyfors- 11-3-2011 – Movie
Aren’t they incredible!! Boom & Gary of the Vermilon River, Canada.
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Great images and video, Larry. You get a lot more variety of bird life than I do.
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What a collection Larry.
I had thought that they would have a crossed bill, but I can see now that they don’t.
Sweet pictures of the Evening grosbeaks Larry. How nice that they gave you such a nice display and stood up to your dogs bluster. Those close up portraits are classic!
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Great shots of lovely birds!
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AWESOME photos!
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Very colorful little birds and how nice to have so many visit your yard.
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A lovely bird to see. Great captures.
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Fabulous series Larry. We had Evening Grosbeaks on our area this winter but had to drive an hour to see them! Beautiful birds.
A cracking species to find in your yard Larry. Notwithstanding their particular colouration they are very similar to our Hawfinch with that large beak.
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Lucky you, the Evening Grosbeaks are beautiful birds. The males are gorgeous. I have seen one female and she was pretty too. Great photos, Larry!
Eileen´s last post ..Keel Billed Toucan
Spectacular images!!! I adore these birds but dont normally get to see them until I fly out to see my sister in Colorado!
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Very good pictures and video. I would love to get a chance to see these birds. Sounds like you have quite a few in your yard!
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Great photos, look a little like superheros in the video. If I’m ever fortunate enough to have one in my yard I’ll be able to ID them.
Always an impressive bird to see. Great photos as usual…I especially like the first one and the one with the water drop on the lower mandible, they really accentuate how enormous this bird’s bill is.
Very interesting birds, perfect photos and video! I’ve never seen grosbeaks in my country, Turkey, although we have many species of finches. The female Evening Grosbeak looks similar to the female Chaffinch, but has certainly a bigger beak!
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Great shots, Larry! Love the video! (also shows the big buds on your tree – time for spring!) I find E.G. difficult to photograph, not sure whether it’s the color combination or the fine feathers that make it hard to get the texture, but you did a great job!
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Spectacular picture! A beautiful set of photos. Bravo!
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Stunning Evening Grosbeak portrait.
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it looks cool with it´s yellow headband. And your digiscope seems to work well.
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Just look at those yellows! Gorgeous birds and great shots. The top one is fantastic!
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Great to see your pics, I have had some Evening Grosbeaks coming to my feeders & west central Saskatchewan & was wanting a bit more info. Pine Grosbeaks also come in greater numbers.