If you’ve seen a flash of black and orange at your bird feeder recently, it was probably a black-headed grosbeak. Adult males sport showy black, white and burnt orange plumage in the spring w… ...

The song of the black-headed grosbeak is a real treat, sounding very robin-like. Both male and female are loud songsters; the female’s song is usually a simplified version of the male's.

The photo attached to the e-mail was clear enough. In the backyard birdfeeder was a bird with an orange-yellow body, black head and wings with large white flecks.

Valerie Sinex, owner of Wild Birds Unlimited in Yorba Linda, noticed a recent increase in customer sightings of exotic black and white birds with exceptionally long tails and bright red-orange bills.

Bird watchers along Lake Huron photographed the bird, which has been nicknamed Rusty and Creamsicle. But there is no consensus about what caused its unusual tint. By James Crugnale Bill Diller, a ...