Pyrrhuloxia

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Male Pyrrhuloxia eating flowering plant outside Bosque del Apache Wild Life Refuge Visitor Center (sandra calderbank)
Male Pyrrhuloxia eating flowering plant outside Bosque del Apache Wild Life Refuge Visitor Center (sandra calderbank)

While I was in Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge this past December, much to my surprise it snowed! Because of the 9 plus inches of snow the Wildlife Refuge was closed for several days. I wandered around the visitor center in the snow with my Canon 5D Mark II and my 70-200 lens and found this beautiful bird! I had no idea what kind of bird I had ‘discovered’, being from the eastern part of the USA I had never seen this bird before. After looking in the Bird book, I learned that it is a Male Pyrrhuloxia and evidently fairly common in the desert. Now can anyone please tell me what that flowering plant is that this beautiful bird is eating?
I am grateful for the snow because otherwise I’m sure I would not have seen or photographed this gorgeous bird because I did not spend much time outside the visitor center. All the “action” was inside the refuge. Lesson learned!!

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