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Here are ways to identify larger birds visiting your backyard and property. Every year or so some evening grosbeaks visit a feeder for sunflower seed. They are robin sized but more heavily built. They usually show up in small flocks vocalizing with whistle like calls. Male and females have different color patterns. Both have heavy seed cracking bills, and they show up in late winter into early spring. Their main food in this area is the samara or seed pod of big leafed maples. They nest in the middle elevations of the cascade mountains in conifer forests.

Black-headed grosbeaks are plump birds...