Male Blue Grosbeak, a handsome dude

Given my absence from posting to this blog one might think I had taken an absence from birding or was out of the state. But no, I have been birding at least some, and often a lot, every day and I have been in southeast Colorado. However, I have been so busy with conservation efforts including Colorado Breeding Bird Atlas-II work and research on the Army's Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site (more on that later).

Anyhow, I'm back to posting. These pics are of a single male Blue Grosbeak I photographed in the Canon City area last week. Though the top photo isn't as crisp, it shows the color well. The bottom pic shows how these birds are often seen, perched in a shrubby and often a weedy area and partly obscured by the foliage. This species is common throughout southeast Colorado.
SeEtta