Pine grosbeaks are interesting to see. Today, one of our neighbours let us know that there was a flock eating crab-apples near us. We have seen them before, but not in large numbers the way we saw them today. The males are red and the females are grey and yellow. One of the largest species in the finch family, they are about 8-10 inches long.
Apparently, we may see more of these birds this winter because the mountain ash berry crop further north is below average this year.
They eat seeds, buds, berries, and insects. Crab-apples are on their list for food too. This tree is completely covered with crab-apples this year. The flock covered the tree.
As you can see in the picture above, they are not always easy to see in the tree. We had to look carefully to see many of them. It was interesting to see them hanging upside down to eat the crab-apples.
