Identification:

  • Up to 7.5-8 inches in length
  • Wingspan 33 - 35 cm .
  • Short tail
  • Large, pale, conical bill
  • Gathers in flocks frequently
  • Has a distinctive call

        Male:

  • Has a brown head and upper back
  • Yellow body and eyebrow
  • Black wings with a white patch on the top of the wing
  • Black tail
  • Has a yellow bill in the winter and a pale green in the summer

        Female:

  • Brownish gay upper body
  • Pale gray under body
  • Black wings and black tail with white tips
  • White patches in wings
  • Some yellow on nape, sides, and rump

 

http://my.pclink.com/~rlovgren/nature9j.htm

Habitat: 

Grosbeaks usually prefers thick coniferous forest, but they have successfully adapted to mixed deciduous habitats.
 

Characteristics:

  • Grosbeaks make a wide variety of calls and cries. The most often heard call is a monosyllabic chirp.  They only have one distinct song it has been described as "a series of abrupt warbles" and this song is rarely heard.
  • Grosbeak nesting habits studies have been mostly successful. Most nest are usually found  6-12 m high in spruces or deciduous trees. The nest are constructed of small twigs, and lined with grass, fine roots, or moss. The nests usually contain three to five greenish eggs with brown or olive spots. Most people who has studied the nesting habits thinks that the grosbeaks major nesting region is in western Canada, but now since the birds has came so wide spread it isn't uncommon to see them nesting in every part of the southern boreal forest.

 

            Taxonomy Hierarchy:

  • Kingdom:  Animalia
  • Phylum:  Chordata
  • Subphylum:  Vertebrata
  • Class:  Aves
  • Order:  Passeriformes
  • Family:  Fringillidae
  • Genus:  Coccothraustes
  • Species:  Coccothraustes vespertinus

 

 

Diet:

Grosbeaks diet consists of seeds of deciduous trees, shrubs, coniferous trees, grass seeds, buds, small fruits and berries, and some insects.

 

Range:

The Evening Grosbeak is found only in North American. Its original range was in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies, but it has migrated east as far as Newfoundland. They can be viewed year-round form Nova Scotia and through the western U.S.
 

Click here for Distribution Maps   Winter Distribution   Summer Distribution

 

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Sources:

1.  US Geological Survey

2.  Shaw Creek Bird Supply http://www.shawcreekbirdsupply.com/evening_grosbeak_info.htm

3.  http://www.nenature.com/EveningGrosbeak.htm