As I wrote last week, we are experiencing an irruption of winter finches here in central Vermont and I saw my first Pine Grosbeaks, finally.  Here’s a recent eBird map showing sightings near here:

Reports of Pine Grosbeaks this calendar year.

Pine Grosbeaks seem to be a lot like Bohemian Waxwings — if you happen upon them, they are there in numbers and quite cooperative but often, if you get there a half-hour later, they are off to another feeding site.  I stumbled on a group of 13 females and juveniles this morning and took a few photos as they fed on the berries on the ground.

Pine Grosbeaks are one of the largest members of the finch family. The males are rosy-red, while the females are yellow. Juveniles are hard to distinguish as both males and females are similar in coloration.

Pine Grosbeaks tend to be rather cooperative and thus easier to photograph than twitchier species like warblers.

It’s fun to read of PIGR sightings throughout the Northeast — it is a great year for winter finches — just as forecast.