• Tuesday-What'sUP January 25 - 11:41 pm

I'm not quite sure, but it looks like Melanie Hakala Rossi was sitting right there in that crabapple tree, in order to capture these close-ups. That's a male Pine Grosbeak that she's looking eye to eye with. Good thing there's still some crabapples for the birds to feast on, they're going to need the energy to stay warm during these Keweenaw winter months. Fruits, buds and seeds make up 99% of these rose-colored Grosbeak's diet and a winter flock may stay near a tree with fruit, like this crabapple, until they've cleaned it all up. It sure is a pretty bird and it's always nice when they visit your bird feeding station, since they add a bit of color in the midst of all our winter white.

Beautiful bird!

Really nice looking bird. I didn't know what kind it was and I guess we don't have them out here.

Have a great day!

As Grand-maw used to say:
"If you want to avoid being tempted to eat forbidden fruit, stay out of the devil's orchard." Mr. Pine Grosbeak is fine there in the Crab-apples!

Melanie,

Your shots are much better than the ones on the reference page! Great color saturation and detail.

Pat & Glenda, I like your Grandmaw's 'saying'! Smart lady! This is such a pretty bird.....looks like it could be kin to the finch. Now, my husband has always been fascinated by the strength of horses with their slender legs carrying such a large body, but I'm more fascinated by tiny bird legs supporting their bodies. Notice how he's hanging onto that tiny twig in the last photo. Awesome! :)

It is a type of finch, Shirley, the most uncommon one according to this information:
Pine Grosbeak info

Mary says: Thanks for reposting this link, which I also had in the notes up above.
For those of you that don't already know this...when something in the notes is highlighted in BLUE and underlined, it's a link to more information. Just click on it and it will take you to greater knowledge about the subject. :->

Oh, and meant to say, Melanie, these are absolutely fantastic pictures! Don't you just love how the color of the bird and the color of the crabapples are the same?

Excellent shots!

Pretty Birds, nice pictures.
We don't have those down here in Missouri but we do have the House Finch and the Rosy Finch.
We had nearly a foot of snow here and real cold weather so have been feeding the birds and must have at least 200 that come in to eat. All kinds, even had some crows come in the other day, first time for that.
This weather made me feel like I was back in the UP again.

Great job, Melanie!!! That second shot is an absolute beauty; good enough to be in a magazine or calender.

We don't have pine grosbecks down here, but we have a pair of Purple Finches that have decided to visit, as well as an Orange-Crowned Warbler that loves our suet. We even had a couple Eastern Bluebirds here a few weeks ago, but they have since moved on. One of these days I should get some photos of these birds myself....

Pretty bird.

Thank you, Eugenia, for that info. I always enjoy the seasonal color changes of finches. I know that golden finches LOVE dandelions!:>

Very cool pictures. We get those birds at our feeders in Ishpeming. It's always fun when a different bird shows up.

Shirley...you aren't kidding the Goldfinches love dandelions...I was watching a little one attacking a seeded dandelion head one day...and that thing kept on wrestling the seed head, and they were going back and forth, and the bird did win!! Took a little while, but it worked and it was hilarious to watch.