Sunday, December 30, 2007

Life Bird Today- The Pine Grosbeak

Pine Grosbeak, Little Pond, Otisfield, Maine

I thought I was going crazy today when a Scarlet Tanager flew across my path about twenty feet down the old abandoned road I was snow shoeing on. That was my instantaneous inkling, which I knew was ridiculous. And then I remembered the picture that Jim McCormac posted a while back about the drab immatature or female (i can't remember) pine grosbeak visiting northwest Ohio. DING DING! What I had in front of me was in fact a mature male pine grosbeak, an incredibly rare visitor to Ohio but not so much here in Maine, according to a Christmas Bird Count Map I found on the New England Nature website.

What a beautiful bird! I thought I was only going to get a crappy photo with my 50mm lens from about twenty feet away when I picked up the bird again through my binos. I switched to the telephoto lens and fired away. This individual was feeding, alone, in the bog of Little Pond. This bird was really breathtaking. I was able to watch it eat for about thirty minutes. Once I get back to a high speed connection, I'll post more photos.


Tom

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