This beautiful male and female pair of Evening Grosbeaks appeared before my eyes this morning, while making coffee.

I spotted Mr. Grosbeak right away, as his brilliant colors provided such a stark contrast to the fresh snow.  If you look closely, you can see his lovely bride peering through the juniper branches behind him.  She’s not in focus, as I was keen on getting a shot of his wonderful face…since he was kind enough to offer this pose.

I shot this through my kitchen window today with my 70-200mm lens.  Yes, through the kitchen window…which is what caused the very interesting vignette effect, by the way.  What a lucky bonus 🙂

It’s been awhile since the Evening Grosbeaks visited us here at our sanctuary.  This shot was taken near the end of November 2012.  Today’s “visit” is the first since then.

We hope it’s a sure sign that they, and all their friends may be coming back around very soon, as Spring begins to creep back in.