We're noting on the various California birding listservs the timely arrival of the popular Black-headed Grosbeak. Robert Patton from San Diego spotted his first of the season on his backyard feeder on Saturday, and Dick Stovel reported seeing one for the first time in Palo Alta the same day. Looking at the eBird maps, we're definitely seeing them push their way northward into California from their wintering grounds in southern Mexico and Baja.

If you see the eBird maps from February, there wasn't much activity from the Black-headed Grosbeak:

But then into this one from the weekend, you see more sightings:

If you look at this map from April of 2011, you can see where we're headed very soon: