Hi everyone,



This spring was a bonanza for Evening Grosbeaks in our yard.? A typical year has had a few visits per year by a small flock - maybe four to eight birds.? Not this year!? We had a large flock (maybe 15) show up the first week in May.? Word spread in the grosbeak community because over the next few days the daily flock grew and grew until one day I counted 42 birds in view at once - and there were probably some additional ones in the fir trees in our and our neighbor's yard that weren't visible.? Until two days ago, we had Evening Grosbeaks in the yard every day following the first flock's arrival, although their numbers started to decline perhaps two weeks ago until the last few days they were present, I would see two to four birds.? Although they certainly made a major dent in the black oil sunflower seed budget, I really hope to have this phenomenon happen again.? We miss the constant churrr, churrr, churrr and other vocalizations and the?frenetic feeding?activity when they were around.? They've been replaced now by Black-headed Grosbeaks, with as many as six of those being seen in the yard simultaneously on a couple of occasions.?



Much of the time the grosbeaks were here we also had a large flock (as many as 30) of Band-tailed Pigeons (which are still around off and on).? They are sort of the avian version of the proverbial swarm of locusts when it comes to their eating ability.? At times there are so many that when they spook (they are quite flighty, not quite sure if they have been predated or if that is just normal behavior) the noise of the wings is quite loud.



John Tubbs

Snoqualmie, WA

johntubbs at comcast.net

www.tubbsphoto.com