….and then the grosbeak.

Female blue grosbeak (which is not even remotely blue, but rich brown) on the feeder.

“There’s something on the feeder.”

“It’s a cowbird.”

“It’s not a cowbird, it’s not dark enough and it’s wagging its tail and those are chesnut wing bars!”

“To the internet!”

I set up a platform feeder a few days ago, and dude, I should have done that years ago, it’s bringin’ ‘em in like crazy. I’ve only seen one other blue grosbeak in my life, and not in this yard. Who knew?

ETA: And there’s the male!

This makes me happy, because A) he’s just an unbelievably gorgeous bird, and B) it means I was actually right on my ID of the female, which, though I was pretty confident, isn’t the easiest ID in the world to make.

Another decade or two, and I might actually get good at this bird thing!

Originally published at Squash's Garden. You can comment here or there.