In Missouri as a kid I was familiar with Northern Cardinals.  Their sharp “whit-whit-whit” calls came from the cedars and brush piles in all seasons.  A few would over-winter and be seen picking bird seed off the snow.  We even had some Rose-breasted Grosbeaks in the oak forests though I only saw them occasionally.  But now I’m living in a grosbeak gathering spot,  a lively place, indeed.  Grosbeaks to the right, grosbeaks to the left, overhead and even underfoot.  The males seem especially prone to picking ground-fallen morsels shoulder-to-shoulder with the Juncos and Mourning Doves.  I am enamoured.  The males are flashy, true, but the Grosbeak feminista?  Ah, what subtle beauties.  The white eyebrow make-up, the cushiony orange-hued breast, the unflinching eye. Beauty is definitely in the eye of this grosbeak beholder.  Well, judge for yourself:

 

Their Latin name is Pheucticus melanocephalus.  The “Pheucticus“  means retiring or inclined to avoid.  Hah, not these Pheucticuses.  They’re inclined to eat and eat and ignore my attentions altogether.  Presence makes the heart grow fonder.  When they were just a singing voice atop some sixty-foot tall tree for a few days in spring, then they were in with those other treetoppers like Hermit Warbler, Bullock’s Oriole, Western Tanager.  Intriguing, beautiful when glimpsed breifly flitting about.  But when I get to watch them closely and continually, a serious case of infatuation sets in. 

Did you notice those fine black streaks along each side just beneath the wing?

 

 

 

 

 

And such an appreciative eater.  The kind of young lady you like to take to dinner. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Grosbeaks’ Life

 This species is an ideal topic on International Migratory Bird Day.  Though they breed over much of the forested western U.S. most of the population migrates southward and wintwers in Mexico.  Thus they’re dependent on habitat protection in two separate territories each year.   Here in Ashland they favor mixed forest along streams and near lakes.

They have the classic conical beak of the seedeater.  And they do eat seeds, nuts, fruit as you;d expect.  They also take insects such as beetles and caterpillars, inclusding many that are qyuite damaging to the deciduous trees in which they nest, like oak and madrone hereabouts.  Despite the Latin genus for this species they are known to be quite eager to use feeders and to become fairly tame, often seen foraging around campsites.

THey nest only once per season.  In the wild they can liv e several years.  One pet lived 25 years, now there’s an idea, a pet Grosbeak loose in your living room.  Imagine what that beak could do to a sofa, or a picture frame.

Previous Grrosbeaking on this blog:

Here. 

And here.