Rose-breasted Grosbeak

"Rose-breasted Grosbeak"
graphite
small leather sketchbook

My father told me on Sunday to keep an eye on my bird feeder for rose-breasted grosbeak, as he had seen them near his more southerly home.  They are migrating north to their nesting grounds, and were likely to pass through my neighborhood.  Sure enough, on Monday morning as I was looking out my kitchen window, I saw a single male rose-breasted grosbeak.  Throughout the day, I saw the same group of three males and one female visit my feeder.  The males would often have little spats, one hovering as the other prevented him from landing.  It was a beautiful day, and I had all the windows open in my house, so I could hear their plaintive calls wherever I was.  Dad said "It's like sneakers on a gym floor" but the noise seems so soft and subdued to me, that it's more like mice wearing sneakers on a gym floor.  These feisty and attractive seed-eaters were the inspiration for this sketch.