By Mary Drew at Pasty Central (Mdrew) on Friday, April 11, 2014 - 11:17 pm:
Frederic W. Koski has been keeping an eye on a pair of Evening Grosbeaks that have been visiting his feeder. The first two shots here today are of the colorful male, striking a pose for the camera.
There's a story behind the next two photos and since Frederic told it so well, I'll just share his words with you here:
On Tuesday morning, I heard a loud bang and found a hawk lying in the snow by the window he hit. I was able to get one photo before he flew off. A short time later, I found the male Grosbeak sitting close to where the hawk had been, so I figured the hawk must have been chasing him and he must have hit the window, too. He hung around most of the day, not flying away, but hopping from here to there. He flew off much later in the day and I haven't seen him or the female he was with earlier, either. I've had Evening Grosbeaks around before, but this is the first time seeing a raptor in the yard.
Funny how these birds get so caught up in what they're doing as they're flying around, that they think a window is actually open air to fly through. I know of a Partridge (Ruffed Grouse) that died in a friend's yard, right here in town, after hitting a window. My friend said it sounded like a gunshot, it was so loud when it hit the window. It would be nice to figure out how to keep them from hurting themselves like that.
It sure is good to see and hear more birds out and about now, as the weather begins to warm up and we're enjoying more sunshiny days.
