I was very pleased to find your article about the evening grosbeak. I live in Chateauguay, and they used to visit my feeders in the winter each and every year. But I have to say that it has been, I would say, around 30 years since I have seen one. They were my favourite, with their bright colours, and their large size and large beak. They were often accompanied by the common redpoll, so tiny and cute with their little red caps. Sadly, I haven’t seen either one in many years. For some reason, if I remember correctly, I think I usually saw them around the month of March, and now every year I say to myself, “Maybe this year I will see the grosbeaks come back.” So far, no luck, but I haven’t given up. Especially now that you have spotted some, it gives me hope of seeing one. We do get a lot of other birds: cardinals, blue jays, nuthatches, finches, chickadees, and juncos. A couple of summers ago we had a hawk in the neighbourhood all summer and it was fun to watch his behaviours (well, not so much fun when he was eating little baby birds!). Right now, the highlight is a bunny; so much easier to see in the winter. You can easily spot him jumping across the snow or eating my burning bush. He leaves his tracks across the yard so you can see where he has been, and of course he leaves his calling cards. I enjoy seeing him, and I have to say I leave some rabbit food out for him each night.
Thank you for the great article about the grosbeaks, I really enjoyed it, and it brought back good memories.
Patricia Foley
Chateauguay
