Sunday morning I walked outside with the dog and was met with a loud chorus of bird calls. The tops of the pines and spruce were humming with bird activity. I couldn’t make out the specie of bird at first. With the help of the Merlin App I was able to identify them as Evening Grosbeaks. After about 20 minutes of looking with my binoculars I finally got visual confirmation.
The noise continued all day long. The sky became filled with the remnants of the pine seed spinners as these birds used their beaks to wedge open the tight cones. There were so many birds feeding that there was a rain of pinecones in addition to the fluttering spinners.
There were smaller birds too. The Pine Siskin tend to follow the Grosbeaks around and clean up on the leftovers. My research indicates that the Grosbeak populations have declined by 90% since 1970 due to habitat loss and crashing into windows. Sarah and I have seen this happen multiple times over the years as we have found dead birds on the front porch on more than one occasion. We continue to search for solutions and I am happy to report that blocking the window with my car seemed to work this year.
I wish I could have gotten a photo of these beautiful orange birds. They stay so high up in the tops of trees I just didn’t have any way to isolate them for a photo. Perhaps I will need to purchase a new camera like the Nikon P1100 with its 1000 mm zoom lens that seem to be so popular with other birders.
Perhaps I will just settle for writing this journal and remembering the magical day they passed through our yard in 2026.
