The Blackheads Are Back!

Day 208: I have Blackheads! No, I'm not going through adolescence again. The Black-Headed Grosbeaks have returned. Unlike the Evening Grosbeaks which are absent only the few months of winter, the Blackheads are seasonals, here for the summer like the seasonal rangers in the Park. While "on duty," these American Robin-sized birds will consume bugs, berries and and black-oil sunflower seed in vast quantities, and will fill my yard with songs similar to that of the Robin but more melodic and varied. They pair for the breeding season, and woe betide another Grosbeak who tries to encroach. Mid-air "beak fights" are common and spectacular; they will also attack intruding Steller's and Scrub Jays. In my observations, they are tolerant of Evening Grosbeaks, Spotted Towhees and smaller birds even when the feeders are at "elbow-room only" status. It's May, and the contorted filbert looks like a Christmas tree, dozens of yellow Evening Grosbeaks, orange Blackheads, and the occasional "raspberry juice" finch or Goldfinch thrown in for highlights.