Evening Grosbeak

Coccothraustes vespertinusOrder: PASSERIFORMESFamily: Finches (Fringillidae)

General

Evening Grosbeak: Large, stocky finch with bright yellow back, rump, and underparts. Head is brown with heavy, pale bill; bright yellow eyebrows extend onto forehead. Wings are dark with bold white secondary patches; tail is dark. Female and juvenile female are similar but grayer and with white-tipped tails; secondary wing patch is gray and base of inner primaries are white. Juvenile male resembles female but has white secondaries.

Range and Habitat

Evening Grosbeak: Breeds from British Columbia east to Nova Scotia and south to northern New England, Minnesota, the mountains of Mexico, and California. Spends winters south to California, Texas, and South Carolina; nests in coniferous forests and visits deciduous woodlands and suburban areas in the winter.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"clee-ip", "chirp"

Interesting Facts

Evening Grosbeaks devour surprising quantities of raw salt.

These birds have been observed eating 96 sunflower seeds in five minutes.

A group of grosbeaks are collectively known as a "gross" of grosbeaks.

Author

Gary Owen Dick

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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

Evening Grosbeak

Evening Grosbeak: Large, stocky finch, bright yellow back, rump, and underparts. Head is brown with heavy, pale bill; bright yellow eyebrows extend onto forehead. Dark wings with bold white secondary patches; dark tail. Feeds on insects, buds, sap, seeds, fruits and berries. Swift bounding flight.

● Song: "clee-ip", "chirp"

● Foraging & Feeding: Evening Grosbeak: Eats seeds of trees and shrubs, juniper berries, pinion nuts, maple sap, and buds of deciduous trees and shrubs; also takes insects during the breeding season.

● Breeding & nesting: Evening Grosbeak: Three to five blue to blue green eggs, spotted with brown and purple, are laid in a shallow, loose cup of twigs lined with rootlets and built in a conifer.

● Similar species: Evening Grosbeak: American Goldfinch is smaller, has a black cap, pink conical bill, and bright yellow upperparts and underparts.

Flight Pattern

Swift shallow bounding flight with rapid wing beats.

● Range & Habitat: Evening Grosbeak: Breeds from British Columbia east to Nova Scotia and south to northern New England, Minnesota, the mountains of Mexico, and California. Spends winters south to California, Texas, and South Carolina; nests in coniferous forests and visits deciduous woodlands and suburban areas in the winter.

^BreedingMonogamous, Semicolonial

^PopulationFairly common

^MigrationSome migrate

^Weight2.1 Ounces

Field Guide to Birds of North America