Evening Grosbeak

The Evening Grosbeak is a large, striking finch with an oversized, pale conical bill built for cracking heavy seeds. Adult males are bold yellow on the body with a black tail and wings crossed by large white patches, a dark brown-black head, and a bright yellow eyebrow stripe that gives a distinctive "eyebrowed" look. Females and immatures are more subdued silvery-gray with hints of yellow on the nape and flanks and the same bold black-and-white wing pattern, though less contrasty than males.

Once an abundant and conspicuous winter visitor to bird feeders across much of North America, the Evening Grosbeak has experienced one of the steepest population declines of any widespread songbird since the 1970s, attributed largely to changes in spruce budworm outbreaks (a key food source), forest management, and other factors, making sightings more special today than a few decades ago.

Key Field Marks

• Massive, pale ivory to greenish conical bill
• Males: golden-yellow body, black tail, black wings with large white patches, dark head with yellow forehead/eyebrow
• Females: silvery-gray overall with a yellowish nape wash and similar black-and-white wing pattern, more muted
• Short, notched black tail
• Stocky, bull-necked build

Similar Species

• American Goldfinch: much smaller and slimmer-billed, lacking the grosbeak's massive bill and bulk.
• Pine Grosbeak: rosy-red (male) or gray-olive (female), without the Evening Grosbeak's bold yellow-and-black pattern or huge pale bill.
• Cedar Waxwing: superficially similar silhouette in flight but has a crest, black mask, and red wax-tipped feathers rather than a grosbeak's massive bill.

Habitat

Evening Grosbeaks breed in coniferous and mixed coniferous-deciduous forests, especially where spruce budworm outbreaks occur, and are frequently seen at bird feeders, particularly for sunflower seeds, during fall and winter.

Range

The species breeds across the boreal forest of Canada, the northeastern United States, and mountainous areas of the western United States and Mexico.

Migration

Evening Grosbeaks are irruptive migrants; in years of poor cone crops they move erratically and sometimes in large numbers well south of their breeding range, though such large irruptions have become far less frequent as the overall population has declined.

Behavior

Evening Grosbeaks are gregarious, traveling and feeding in flocks that can number from a handful to dozens of birds, often dominating feeders due to their large size and strong bills.

Voice

The call is a loud, ringing "clee-ip" or "peer," often the first sign of a flock's presence; the song is an unremarkable, short, warbled phrase rarely given.

Feeding

Diet includes tree seeds, buds, berries, and large numbers of insects such as spruce budworm caterpillars during the breeding season; the powerful bill lets them crack seeds too hard for most other finches, including box elder and sunflower seeds.

Nesting

Nests are loose, flat cups of twigs placed high in a conifer, built mainly by the female. Typically 2-5 eggs are laid, and young fledge in about two weeks, fed by both parents.