#Rose-breasted Grosbeaks

[uwmspeccoll]

A Cardinalidae Feathursday

The Cardinals (Cardinalis cardinalis) and Rose-breasted Grosbeaks  (Pheucticus ludovicianus) in our neighborhood have just been chattering away this early summer. The call of the Cardinal is quite distinctive, but we often confuse the call of the Rose-breasted Grosbeak with that of the American Robin. Some say the Grosbeak sounds like a Robin that has had better music lessons, but we have a hard time telling them apart. What do you think?

Both are members of the family Cardinalidae. The only other species in that family that lives in our area (that we know of) is the Scarlet Tanager (Piranga olivacea), which also sounds remarkably like a Robin, but hoarser. The images shown here are from a 1930 painting by American nature artist Walter Alois Weber reproduced in Bird Portraits in Color by the American physician and ornithologist Thomas Sadler Roberts and published by the University of Minnesota Press in the 1934. The volume includes 92 color plates by five wildlife artists illustrating 295 North American species. 

The three birds in the upper left of this plate are winter male, female, and male nestling Rose-breasted Grosbeaks; in the upper right are a fully adult breeding male and first-year breeding male Rose-breasted Grosbeaks; at bottom are adult female and male Cardinals.

View other posts from Bird Portraits in Color.

View more Feathursday posts.

[thomas--bombadil]

Rose-breasted Grosebeaks are everywhere now.

Males are fighting for mates and singing sweetly all day long.

They bring so much life to a warming world.

Spring is fully on its way.

[geopsych]

A juvenile rose-breasted grosbeak visited the bird bath today!

[avian-aves]

Various illustrations from 2021-2023. Pencil and watercolor.

[kabukiaku]

eastern goth barn owl 🌙 † 🖤+ rose breasted pastel cockatoo 💖🍓💕

they’re girlfriends. ✨

[seathernycolors]

all you are is what you see

[birds--daily]

day 1

rose-breasted grosbeak

[todaysbird]

this rose-breasted grosbeak was banded by powdermill bird banding during the fall of 2005, during a random wild bird banding of the area. participants were surprised to find the bird to be a bilateral gyandromorph - one side of the body is male, the other female. this is typically due to an event that happens in early mitosis, where one of the dividing cells does not split its sex chromosomes in a typical fashion. interestingly, most birds only have one functional ovary on the left side of the body, so this individual could still hypothetically produce offspring.

[campodefiori9]

Rose-breasted Grosbeak near jagiello statue, Central park.

[glittertimes1997]

wriothesley bird agenda

rose-breasted grosbeak

[oliviarosaline]

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Pheucticus ludovicianus

A very handsome male.

April 23rd, 2024

Jefferson County, Missouri, USA

Olivia R. Myers

@oliviarosaline

[thomas--bombadil]

A grosbeak among the willows.

[professionalnihilist]

Spotted for the first time ever, a rose-breasted grosbeak. This one’s a gal, and I was actually astonished over how photogenic she was.

Apparently, grosbeaks only appear in New York during breeding season. They are one of the first Neotropical migrants to arrive in southern New York each spring. They’re also one the largest members of the finch family.

[julesofnature]

Today I will gratefully receive all the gifts that life has to offer me. I will receive the gifts of sunlight and the sound of birds singing and spring showers. I will also be open to receiving from others, whether it is in the form of a material gift, a compliment or a prayer.

~Deepak Chopra

[speakingofnature]

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Migration is done...time to get busy with nesting.

[burkh4rt]