rosie passing through

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Rose-breasted grosbeak. Photo by John Harrison.

I received three or four phone calls at the end of last week about these curious black, white and red birds being seen in the callers' yards. Unlike warblers, these birds were chunky and not fidgety. They'll let you have a good long look.

One call was from Nancy Tanner, who is noted for once seeing another black, white and red bird: the ivory-billed woodpecker, back in December 1941. Nancy knew what she was looking at 70 years ago in the Singer Tract, and she knew exactly what this modern day backyard visitor was as well. 

"A rose-breasted grosbeak spent ten minutes at my feeder," she said, still ecstatic by the visit. "What a perfectly lovely bird!"

Indeed. Here's a bit of birdsong captured by the master of such capturing, Lang Elliott.

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