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Pine Grosbeak

Pinicola enucleatorOrder: PASSERIFORMESFamily: Finches (Fringillidae)

Pine Grosbeak Portrait
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General

Pine Grosbeak: Large, robust finch with red-washed black back, gray sides and undertail coverts, and pink-red rump and underparts. Head and face are pink-red; bill is heavy and black. Wings are black with two pale bars. Tail is black and slightly notched. Female and juvenile are gray with variably orange or olive-brown heads, napes, and faces. Juvenile male resembles female but may have red wash on head.

Range and Habitat

Pine Grosbeak: Breeds from Alaska east to Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, and south in the western mountains to California and Arizona. Spends winters south to the Dakotas and New York but may go farther south to southern Canada and northern United States. Prefers open coniferous forests and forest edges. Winters in mixed coniferous-deciduous forests; also found in shade trees in villages and in suburbs where it looks for food.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"teu, teu, teu"

Interesting Facts

 Pine grosbeaks are the largest of the northern finches.

 The Pine Grosbeak was depicted on the 1986 series Canadian $1000 bill.

 These birds love pine trees. Even their genus name Pinicola is Latin for pine dweller.

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



Author

Gary Owen Dick

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Range Map for Pine Grosbeak
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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.
Family Buntings, Finches, Sparrows (Emberizidae)_blue
Species Pinicola enucleator
Length9 - 9.75 Inches
Wingspan14.375 Inches

Pine Grosbeak

Pine Grosbeak: Large, robust finch with red-washed black back, gray sides and undertail coverts, and pink-red rump and underparts. Head and face are pink-red; bill is heavy and black. Wings are black with two pale bars. Tail is black and slightly notched. Feeds on seeds, buds, fruits and insects.

● Song: "teu, teu, teu"

● Foraging & Feeding: Pine Grosbeak: Feeds on seeds, buds, fruits, and insects; favorites include crabapple, bittersweet, barberry, and mountain ash fruit, and birch, pine, and spruce seeds; forages in trees and on the ground.

● Breeding & nesting: Pine Grosbeak: Two to five blue green eggs with black, purple, and brown spots are laid in a bulky nest made of twigs, weeds, and rootlets, lined with hair, soft grass, moss, and lichens, and built low in a conifer, usually no more than 10 to 12 feet above the ground. Incubation ranges from 13 to 15 days and is carried out by the female.

● Similar species: Pine Grosbeak: Other grosbeaks and finches are smaller, have shorter tails, and different calls. White-winged Crossbill is smaller and has distinct white patches on wings. Red Crossbill is smaller and has forked tail.

Flight Pattern

Shallow undulations with series of rapid wing beats., Alternates several rapid wing beats with wings drawn to sides.
Pine Grosbeak Body Illustration
● Range & Habitat: Pine Grosbeak: Breeds from Alaska east to Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, and south in the western mountains to California and Arizona. Spends winters south to the Dakotas and New York but may go farther south to southern Canada and northern United States. Prefers open coniferous forests and forest edges. Winters in mixed coniferous-deciduous forests; also found in shade trees in villages and in suburbs where it looks for food.
BreedingMonogamous, Solitary nester
PopulationFairly common in coniferous range
MigrationNorthern birds migrate
Weight2 Ounces