Hello and Happy Saturday. I hope you all had a good day!

Mine was good and busy. I got up late and then hustled to get my chores done before having a friend over for dinner. I made a crockpot full of turkey chili that was awesome.

When Tim first arrived, Minnie was so excited to see him. She was right there at the door to greet him and as soon as he sat on the couch, she was all over him. She climbed all over him, snuggle up to him, and then finally settled on his lap, looking up at him with the most adorable gazing eyes. It was so cute to see how much she enjoyed having her Uncle Tim over for a visit. Cooper on the other hand stayed hidden. He's still very shy and wasn't ready to meet his Uncle Tim. Hopefully he'll come out of his shell soon, I have been working on that and he makes a little progress each day.

I was hoping to do my blog post earlier today, but I was so busy that I never got a chance to sit down and write it. Keeping with the camp theme the past few days, I thought I would share another camp photo. Today's photo is of a male evening grosbeak in summer plumage (aka breeding plumage). The evening grosbeaks showed up at my camp site 3 years ago and have continued to return each year. The first year it was a male and female showing up at my feeders and I was so in awe with them as I had never seen them before and I don't get them at home. Then one summer day, they showed up with all three of their young. I was so happy to see that they brought their kids to my campsite and I watched as the adults got food from the feeders and brought it to the kids who were all perched nearby. They showed up every day, multiple times a day before they disappeared for their fall migration. I enjoyed every moment of it and have been happy that they returned a second and a third year. This past year, I had three pairs showing up which was so much fun. Sadly though, as I mentioned in a previous blog post, the red squirrels showed up and took over. They chased away my chipmunks as well as many of the birds. My fingers are currently crossed that the evening grosbeaks return in May when I do.

Evening Grosbeaks are a larger sized bird in the finch family. They can be found in Canada, the United States, and Mexico and they nest on horizontal branches or in the forks of a tree. Their diets consist of seeds, berries, and insects. Like most birds, the males have more vibrant colors and both the males and females have green beaks while in their summer plumage (breeding plumage). They are a beautiful bird to watch and I always enjoy seeing them at my feeders.

Here's a shot I got of one of my males. He's clearly a stunning bird!

Evening GrosbeakThis is an image of a male evening grosbeak at camp in the Adirondack region. It was taken by Debbie Quick from Debs Creative Images.