Evening Grosbeak at Marie Curtis Park: November 17, 2020

The beautifully named Evening Grosbeak has long been considered a very rare bird in southern Ontario. I usually see them at bird feeders in northern Ontario. I have heard that some are being spotted in our area and we were fortunate in having one fly over head and perch briefly in a far-off tree.

Evening Grosbeak (female)
Evening Grosbeak (female)

My grandmother was a great admirer of this species and she wrote the entry on it for the Bent Life History published by the Smithsonian Institution between the 1920s and the 1950s. A stuffed grosbeak graced their living room.

Here are some photos taken in Quebec City in the 1970’s:

Other birds:

Common Goldeneye (female)
Common Goldeneye (female)
Common Goldeneye (female)
Common Goldeneye (female)
Hooded Merganser (male)
Hooded Merganser (male)
Hooded Merganser (male)
Lesser Yellowlegs
Hooded Merganser (female)
Buffleheads
Mallard (male)
Canada Geese
Canada Geese
Canada Geese
Common Merganser (female)
American Black Duck
Black-capped Chickadee
American Goldfinch
Blue Jay
Blue Jay
Red-tailed Hawk
Belted Kingfisher

Species list:  Canada goose, mallard, American black duck, common merganser, hooded merganser, bufflehead, common goldeneye, red-tailed hawk, ring-billed gull, lesser yellowlegs, belted kingfisher, downy woodpecker, hairy woodpecker, blue jay, American crow, black-capped chickadee, cedar waxwing, American robin, evening grosbeak, northern cardinal, American goldfinch. (21 species)

Park views:

Some botany:

Beggar-ticks (Bidens frondosa)
Riverbank Grape (Vitis riparia)
Jerusalem Artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus)
Evening Primrose (Oenothera)
Reed Canary Grass (Phalaris arundinacea)
Crab Apples

Today’s groups:

NATURE POETRY

November, month of mornings, misty-bright
With golden light—
Month when the many-tinted leaf
Lies thick upon the moss below;
While to and fro
The breezes moan, as if in grief.       – Mortimer Collins (1827–76)

Miles Hearn

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