This eastern
species is a rare but regular visitor to California with most records in Spring and early Summer. A singing male
was seen here on 4 June. It was joined by a female 10 June and on 13 June a nest with the female incubating was
found. On 20 June the male was seen feeding chicks in the nest. Today we found a recently fledged chick being fed
by the female. We did not see the male, nor did we locate the nest. This is one of very few documented breeding
records for California. Most previous nesting has involved hybrids with Black-headed Grosbeak. Click here
for a summary. Digiscoped with Panasonic DMC-LZ5 | Nikon FieldScope III | 30XWA | hand-held (no adapter)