Morning sundog and evening grosbeak

A beautiful sundog was waiting in the sky just above a field when we arose today here in Nolalu, Ontario. Created by the refraction of light through ice crystals in the air, these colourful atmospheric phenomena are more usually seen high in the sky on either side of the sun.
The other photo shows a gaudy male evening grosbeak sitting on a white birch outside our window. The big finch was attracted by sunflower seeds in our feeder nearby.
Evening grosbeaks are one of the more uncommon visitors to our feeder. They are native to this area but just never seem to be in large numbers. More common is the wine-red pine grosbeak.
I always think of evening grosbeaks as the parrots of the Boreal Forest.
Click to go back to our website
Click to see the latest on the blog