Subject: Black-headed Grosbeak
Date: Dec 7 18:08:54 2003
From: Kurt Ranta - kckar at earthlink.net


I had a bright male Black-headed Grosbeak show up for some reason in my
yard this afternoon in Mt. Vernon. He was apparently competing with the
juncos for some food. He was in my tree for a few minutes and flew off.
Interestingly, he was in breeding plumage, with just a few rough spots in
his plumage around his belly. I don't know when he showed up or if he'll
return since I had been gone all weekend up to the very point I saw him.
According to Contreras' "NW Birds of Winter", apparently this is a highly
unusual bird to see in the winter (although it isn't yet winter). At the
time of publication of that book, apparently none had ever been seen in the
winter farther north than Oregon. I know this is one of the last fall
migrators, but this is definitely a late "hanger-onner" indeed. I
reluctantly add that I got 3 horribly blurry photos of the bird with my
piece of junk Pentax "Digibinos". It shows enough that there is little
doubt what it is.


Kurt Ranta
Mt. Vernon, WA
mailto:kckar at earthlink.net