While walking my dog yesterday, I saw 2 birds that I did not recognize scurrying through the underbrush.  On my return trip past the same location, I saw them more out in the open.  I was excited to see both a male and female pine grosbeak scratching along the ground under large tamarac trees where there are lots of fallen cones.

I rushed home, grabbed my camera and returned to see if I might be able to get some photos.  I was able to get a shot of the female, but not the male.  On my return visit, I could see about 6 of them spread out among the tamarac trees.

Later in the day, 4 cedar waxwings landed in one of our backyard crabapple trees.  Two of them were perched very close to each other - I'm guessing some coursthip going on (unfortunately no photos).

This morning, a pair of bluebirds were visiting 2 of the nestboxes in our backyard.  I went down and dropped mealworms on the lid of each box to encourage them to continue considering these nest sites.