Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Taxobox
name = Rose-breasted Grosbeak

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image_width = 220px
image_caption = Adult male
status = LC
status_system = iucn3.1
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Aves
ordo = Passeriformes
familia = Cardinalidae
genus = "Pheucticus"
species = "P. ludovicianus"
binomial = "Pheucticus ludovicianus"
binomial_authority = (Linnaeus, 1766)
range_

---

range_map_width = 220px
range_map_caption = Rose-breasted Grosbeak range in northern America: Breeding only (yellow), wintering only (blue), all-year (orange)
synonyms ="Zamelodia ludoviciana"

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

The Rose-breasted Grosbeak's breeding habitat is open deciduous woods across most of Canada and the eastern United States. Northern birds migrate to southern Mexico south through Central America to Peru and Venezuela in winter. The species occurs as very rare vagrants to western Europe.

Misguided fire prevention policies have created habitat on the Great Plains, thereby allowing the Rose-breasted Grosbeak to extend its range westwards. Increased hybridization with the Black-headed Grosbeak subspecies "Pheucticus melanocephalus papago" ["palpago" is a "lapsus" in Rhymer & Simberloff (1996).] has been recorded as a consequence. [Rhymer & Simberloff (1996)]

The Rose-breasted Grosbeak forages in shrubs or trees for insects, seeds and berries, also catching insects in flight. In the winter quarters, they can be attracted into parks, gardens, and possibly even to bird feeders by fruit like "Trophis racemosa". [Foster (2007)] It builds a twig nest in a tree or large shrub.

Footnotes

References

*|year=2004|id=54064|title=Pheucticus ludovicianus|downloaded=10 May 2006 Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
* (2007): The potential of fruiting trees to enhance converted habitats for migrating birds in southern Mexico. "Bird Conservation International" 17(1): 45-61. doi|10.1017/S0959270906000554 [http://journals.cambridge.org/production/action/cjoGetFulltext?fulltextid=936412 PDF fulltext]
* (2003): "Birds of Venezuela". Christopher Helm, London. ISBN 0-7136-6418-5
* (1996): Extinction by hybridization and introgression. "Annu. Rev. Ecol. Syst." 27: 83-109. DOI|10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.27.1.83 (HTML abstract)
* (1989): "A guide to the birds of Costa Rica". Comistock, Ithaca. ISBN 0-8014-9600-4

External links

* [http://audubon-print.com/rose-breasted-grosbeak.html Rose-breasted Grosbeak by John Audubon]
* [http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Rose-breasted_Grosbeak.html Rose-breasted Grosbeak] Cornell Lab of Ornithology
* [http://sdakotabirds.com/species/rose_breasted_grosbeak_info.htm Rose-breasted Grosbeak] South Dakota Birds and Birding
* [http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/framlst/i5950id.html Rose-breasted Grosbeak] USGS Patuxent
* [http://enature.com/fieldguides/detail.asp?allSpecies=y&searchText=rose-breasted%20grosbeak&curGroupID=1&lgfromWhere=&curPageNum=1 Rose-breasted Grosbeak] eNature.com
* [http://www.bird-stamps.org/cspecies/20302900.htm Stamps] (for Barbuda, Cuba, El Salvador, Grenada, Grenadines of Grenada, United States) with RangeMap
* [http://ibc.hbw.com/ibc/phtml/especie.phtml?idEspecie=9668 Rose-breasted Grosbeak videos] on the Internet Bird Collection