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Rose-breasted Grosbeak
By Tait Johansson
One of the first Neotropical migrants to arrive in southern
New York every spring is the Rose-breasted Grosbeak (Pheucticus
ludovicianus). In late April, this species completes its journey from its
winter range (Mexico south to Ecuador) to our area, announcing its arrival with
an enthusiastic-sounding, liquid, robin-like song. A fairly common breeding
species in the area, Rose-breasted Grosbeaks frequent open woods, wood edges,
orchards, and yards with deciduous shade trees and shrubs. They will sometimes
visit feeders, often for sunflower seeds.
The name “grosbeak” comes from the French word grosbec,
meaning “large beak,” and indeed both sexes of this species have a large,
stubby, powerful bill, colored a dull, pale pink. This bill, designed for
crushing the shells of seeds, is capable of exerting tremendous pressure on
anything it clamps down on, as anyone unfortunate enough to have had a reason to
handle a Rose-breasted Grosbeak can vouch for. (I can tell you that taking one
out of a mist net is an experience not soon forgotten.) Beyond the
birdbander-scarring bill they share, the male and female bear little resemblance
to each other, and might easily be mistaken for two separate species.
The male is a boldly patterned bird, mostly black and white,
with a black head, throat, and back. The upper surfaces of the wings are black
with two white wing bars and a crescent-shaped white patch at the base of the
primary flight feathers. This patch is quite noticeable in flight, though it is
mostly concealed when the bird’s wings are folded. The tail is mostly black with
some white in the outer tail feathers. The rump and underparts are mostly white,
except for a buffy area on the flanks with some fine dark streaking, and a
triangular, bright pinkish-red patch on its breast. The bird in flight reveals
equally startling pinkish-red wing linings. Together, the male’s bright colors,
thick bill, and rather stubby wings vaguely remind me of a small parrot.
The female’s upper-parts are mostly brown, with fine,
darker-brown streaking extending down the back and wings. Her under-parts are
mostly white with fine dark brown streaking extending from the throat down to
the belly. Two thick whitish streaks extend back from the bill across the head
on either side of the brown auricular (the “ear-patch”). The only showy aspect
of the female’s plumage is her yellow wing linings, only visible in flight.
Perhaps her most distinctive trait is that, unlike most other fe-male songbirds,
she occasionally sings (in the vast majority of bird species, only the male
sings). Both sexes frequently give a distinctive call note, a squeaky “eek,”
often aptly compared to the sound of basketball sneakers on a gym floor.
Though common and seemingly conspicuously patterned (if only
the males), this species is often overlooked by casual observers, perhaps
because it spends much of its time in the foliage of trees and shrubs. But the
Rose-breasted Grosbeak, a unique and striking part of our spring’s avifauna, is
well worth a special effort to find it.
Photo Courtesy of and Copyright © by
Dick Budnik Photography
DickBudnik@verizon.net
http://mysite.verizon.net/DickBudnik
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