Wildlife Watching Wednesday: The Rose-Breasted Grosbeak

By: Tom Berg

One of the common forest birds of the northeastern and north-central United States is the Rose-Breasted Grosbeak. This beautiful bird is slightly smaller than an American robin, but larger than a house finch. Adult males have a black head and back and a white belly, with a very distinctive bright red patch on their chest. Females are mostly brown with a streaked, yellowish breast and a white eye stripe.

The name grosbeak comes from the French “gros” for “thick” and “bec” for “beak”, and they certainly do have a thick beak. They use this large, thick beak to crack open a wide variety of seeds to eat. One of their favorite seeds is the black oil sunflower seed, and many backyard birders fill their bird feeders with sunflower seeds to attract rose-breasted grosbeaks (and other birds).

The rose-breasted grosbeak spends the winter in Central America and northern South America, and it migrates north to the US and Canada to breed in the spring and summer. Most of these migrating birds fly directly across the Gulf of Mexico in one night, which proves they are very strong, accomplished fliers.

Rose-breasted grosbeaks eat a lot of seeds, but they also consume insects and a wide variety of fruit and berries. People who set up bird feeders filled with grape jelly to attract Baltimore Orioles are often surprised to see rose-breasted grosbeaks stopping to eat the jelly, too. It shouldn’t be too surprising, though, since the grosbeaks love to eat all kinds of fruit, including grapes.

Grosbeaks prefer to nest in woodlands forests edges where it is easy to find food.  Maples, oaks and pines are some of the trees that attract them. Orchards are another prime location for them. Nests are usually built from several feet to 20 feet above the ground, and the female does most of the nest-building. She then lays 3-5 eggs which are a light bluish-green color with darker speckles.

Rose-breasted grosbeaks make good parents since both the male and the female take care of the young until they fledge.

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