Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Yesterday, one of my favourite birds showed up in my yard and stayed around the feeders in the apples trees pretty well all day.


This is a male Rose-breasted Grosbeak (Pheucticus ludovicianus); females of the species are not very colourful, tending towards dull browns, beige and white.  They have a prominent eyebrow, or supercilium, and look quite like female Purple Finches, except bigger.  There were no lady grosbeaks around.

That's too bad, because this is one handsome dude.

Rose-breasted Grosbeaks are members of the Cardinal Family (Cardinalidae). 

For more information:
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Rose-breasted_Grosbeak/id


4 comments:

  1. Very beautiful photos, Kathy! I can't wait to see a Rose-breasted Grosbeak this year, and it would be even better if one visited my feeders.

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    1. Thanks PrairieB. Hopefully one of these will be coming to your yard soon.

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  2. The males just arrived here as well. They are so handsome. And the white throats too... :)

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    1. We've only had the one RBGR here...and it is strange we should have an arrival up here before or at the same time as you in southern MN. Our male may have got blown around by some of those nasty storms that have been happening. Who knows - just seems a little odd. We usually have several males come up together, followed in a few days by a number of females.

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