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Photo credit: Laurie Page

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The Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Pheucticus ludovicianus, is a large seed-eating bird in the cardinal family.

The adult is 19 cm long and weighs 47 g. It has dark upperparts, white underparts and a large pale bill. The adult male has a black head, wings and upperparts and a bright rose-red patch on its breast; the wings have white patches and rose red linings. The adult female has dark grey upperparts, a white stripe over the eye, streaked underparts and yellowish wing linings.

The Rose-breasted Grosbeak's breeding habitat is open deciduous woods across most of Canada and the eastern United States. It builds a twig nest in a tree or large shrub.

This species migrates to southern Mexico south through Central America to Peru and Venezuela, and occurs as very rare vagrants to western Europe.

The Rose-breasted Grosbeak forages in shrubs or trees for insects, seeds and berries, also catching insects in flight.

The song resembles a more polished version of the American Robin's. The call is a sharp pink.

References

* Hilty, Birds of Venezuela, ISBN 0-7136-6418-5
* Stiles and Skutch, A guide to the birds of Costa Rica ISBN 0-0814-9600-4

External links

* Rose breasted Grosbeak by John Audubon