December 15 - Winter specialties

Well, after a very long absence from 'sharing with you what my eyes see'  I'm writing about my day.
Friends and I went up north to Sullivan County, New York to the area of Liberty/Parksville for a chance to see some winter specialties. Our first stop was the Rayano Feeders at the junction of Smith Road & Cooley Road.  Almost immediately we heard the calls of our target bird of Evening Grosbeaks. We had 7 to start, and the flock then grew to 15+. 
This was just my 5th time seeing this species, and the second time here (2008 & 2018) at the Rayanos. It was see to see the 'House for Sale by Owner' signs posted as perhaps the next homeowner will not be interested in feeding birds.

We birded the local area without much else noteworthy to report, so we headed back south toward our homes in New Jersey. We made a stop at Kendridge Farm to try for the Northern Shrike that had been reported earlier in the morning.  As we were about the leave, Andy's sharp eyes found the Shrike perched atop a very tall tree. We then bumped into Matt who was also looking for the Shrike, and you can view Matt Zeitler's blog for images of the Northern Shrike:
http://orangebirding.com/?p=8805