For the first time in a few years, we have a male Rose-Breasted Grosbeak with us, and here he is on the feeder crunching a sunflower seed. This is the impressively squirrel-proof feeder that I mentioned a while back.

He's been here for a couple of days now and today he seems to have been joined by two "wives" who spend more time tussling with each other than eating seeds.

This was after a black bear came around the middle of the day and took down the feeders and gobbled up all the seed. We didn't even hear the commotion, we were slaving away at our desks, so no pictures. But here's one from another time.

This has been a year of new or returning-after-a-break wildlife: a pair of beavers in the lake, banging their tails on the water just like in the wildlife films on TV, along with Lesser Scaup, Goldeneye, Hooded Mergansers, Common Mergansers and Loons plus Ospreys every day and quite a few immature and mature Bald Eagles. And a male Eastern Towhee which we've never had before. And more chipmunks than for a few years... And we spotted the first bee yesterday. No wonder the hellebores don't set much seed - no early bees.

It's a wild life out here by the lake in the woods...

UPDATE: A week later, we now have four male and two female Rose-Breasted Grosbeaks. Plus, today for the first time ever, a Black-throated Blue Warbler.