On Monday, July 22, 2024, I returned from my early morning walk in WA Park (@55 degrees!) and after a few chores I had breakfast. While cleaning my dishes afterward I glanced out the window and saw a juvenile Black-headed grosbeak on top of the rock that covers the skimmer immediately adjacent to the watercourse. The grosbeaks have been rather scarce in the yard this year, so this was a very exciting sighting… especially since it was the first juvenile I had ever seen. 

I raced for my camera and carefully sneaked outside, finding that the young grosbeak was now in the water getting a drink. I managed to seat myself on a bench and I set up so a minimum amount of movement would be necessary for photographs. The light clouds made it a perfect morning for photography!  

My fear was that the grosbeak would fly straight out of the yard as the adults do after feeding. After a couple of minutes the grosbeak emerged from the watercourse and took advantage of several staging sticks I have positioned adjacent to the watercourse, vocalizing the entire time. I got 39 photos, almost all very good. It hurt to cull them!

I wasn’t sure how the bird got into the yard… I had my doubts it could fly the way it was climbing around the staging sticks. To my utter surprise, it suddenly left the top of a staging stick and flew at least 100 yards, past a neighbor’s house across the street!  It was a very purposeful flight, and I think it might have been joined on its flight by a second bird (probably a parent).