Before turning in I always opened the window as wide as the temperature warranted. Zero called for a mere crack of half an inch and some mornings there came thru this slit a mellow oo-kay, telling rare visitors were getting breakfast. Nearly all the birds that wander south seem dark-colored but some small flocks have crimson tinted males.
There are no waiters to bring them food and the energy required to tear a frozen apple apart seems scarcely compensated by the few seeds within. They are gentle, unsuspicious gray-coated nuns and I have sat while they followed the tendril of a bittersweet across my foot, eating the berries leisurely. They are as fond of maple seeds as Evening Grosbeaks and will return day after day until every one of these delicacies is gleaned from the ground beneath the trees.
Northeastern North America from limit of coniferous forests south in Winter to New Jersey and Pennsylvania. West to Kansas, Minnesota and Manitoba.