Variations on a theme

One of the most common birds we get at the bird feeder are evening grosbeaks.

They're showy, quarrelsome birds. The males are very handsome in a "tuxedo" sort of way.

They show up by the dozens.

But once in a while we get a variation on the grosbeak theme, and welcome a black-headed grosbeak. They're rare visitors. One showed up the other day when it was gray and rainy, and I grabbed a few pix.

Interestingly, except for the thick finch beak, I find black-headed grosbeaks very similar in pattern and coloration to an east-coast bird, the Baltimore oriel. Go figure.

(Here's a Baltimore oriel.)

At any rate, I enjoyed this little guy until he decided to flutter off to parts unknown.

Whoa! New visitor!

This morning we had a new visitor at our bird feeder. At first I thought it was a Baltimore oriole.

Honestly, doesn't it look like one?

But it didn't seem likely since their range is much further east.

Readers kindly pointed out this is NOT a Baltimore oriole, but a black-headed grosbeak. The beak is a dead giveaway.

These readers are right, and I thank them for the correction. I've never seen one of these critters before. What a handsome bird. I hope he returns to the feeder.