For most of yesterday we had two female Pine Grosbeaks (the males are mostly red) hanging out in our "Prairie Fire" crabapple trees chowing down. I was amazed how many apples they ate and they seemed to continuously eat for most of the afternoon, like a kid going through the Halloween candy. They were really very tame, not at all bothered by us or the Corgis who ran under the trees. The hardest part of photographing them was to get a clear show through the tangle of apple branches and also to every get a photo of them without applesauce covering their bill!
This is a more northern species who usually is found throughout Canada and up into AK. In irruptive years, such as this one, when so many northern species are coming down into the U.S. due to lack of food in their usual area, Pine Grosbeaks can join the exodus. Pine Grosbeaks are now being reported from numerous locations around our state of NH.Thus far this fall we have had these irruptive species visit our yard; Pine Siskins, Common Redpolls, Purple Finches, Red-breasted Nuthatches, White-winged Crossbills, and no, Pine Grosbeaks.
We try hard to landscape our property for the birds, using lots of berry and food producing shrubs and trees. It pays off when we get to see such a beautiful species. Let us know if you see any.
Video (handheld) and photo number two shot with the Canon SX HS, the rest with my Canon 1D Mark IV.
4 comments:
Wow! Great photos and video of an awesome bird!
Very cool! Send some down to NJ!
I wonder if it was just going for the seeds and not the fruit.
We had three of the Pine Grosbeaks early this morning in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan this morning (near Marquette). Heard their pretty call and saw them in our crabapple tree. Took us a while to identify them, but when we saw your pictures in you book and read the info about them we realized we had a couple of immature males and a female. How exciting to come home from work and find your email telling us to watch for them!
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