Folks,
Today had 7 simultaneous Black-headed Grosbeaks pigging-out at my condo deck feeders. There was 1 adult male and 1 adult female and the other 5 were this year's fat and noisy fledglings. I've had 1 nesting pair visiting the feeders most of this summer as is typical at my location for the past 10 years on the NE edge of Seahurst Park forest in Burien. Clutch size for this species is generally 3-4 eggs; 3 eggs is most common. "Bent's Life Histories" reports that 5 eggs would be quite rare, especially surviving to obviously healthy fledgling stage. So, I would suspect that these 5 fledglings are from 2 different families. Seahurst Park and surrounding treed yards likely support several pairs of nesting Black-headed Grosbeaks every season. And, it is surprising that an adult male is still around; they usually migrate by the middle of July. Females and juveniles migrate later in August according to more recent local records.
Quite a spirited show from these striking black and orange and brown and white grosbeaks!

Bird well and intelligently (please,)
Maureen E Ellis
Burien, WA