Thank you for the ID on the Blue Grosbeak, Lee! I agree, that's it. I do feel fortunate to have them, although I feel bad that the drought was so bad it drove them here. All those birds were feeding like crazy yesterday. I read somewhere that the Painted Bunting seldom goes to feeders. I know they've been around for a while, because when I listened to the Painted Bunting call on a site on the net, I realized I'd been hearing it for a while, but was apparently only seeing the females or juveniles of that kind at the feeder and couldn't figure out what they were. I'm having trouble keeping up with putting out enough water and food for all my extra visitors this summer. I think the main difference between the summer of 2009 and this one is that this time most of the state is also in severe drought. Kind of hard for wildlife to go far enough to escape it.
