Black-headed Grosbeak

Pheucticus melanocephalus

Order PASSERIFORMES - Family CARDINALIDAE

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1. Cool Facts
2. Description
3. Similar Species
4. Sound
5. Range
6. Habitat
7. Food
8. Behavior
9. Reproduction
10. Conservation Status
11. Other Names

A common and familiar bird of the American West, the Black-headed Grosbeak can be found in mountain forests, along desert streams, or in backyards and gardens. The male and female differ greatly in their plumage, with the male being a flashy black, white, and cinnamon, and the female a drab buff and brown.

Cool Facts

• Despite his showy plumage, the male Black-headed Grosbeak shares about equally with the female in incubating eggs and feeding young.
• The nest of the Black-headed Grosbeak is widely reported to be so thinly constructed that eggs can be seen through bottom. However, nests are less thin in northern California. Thin nests may provide ventilation and help keep them cool.

• The female Black-headed Grosbeak commonly sings. The female song is generally a simplified version of the male song. Occasionally, the female sings full "male" song, apparently to deceive its mate about the presence of intruders and force him to spend more time at the nest.

• The male Black-headed Grosbeak does not get its adult breeding plumage until it is two years old. First-year males can vary from looking like a female to looking nearly like an adult male. Only yearling males that most closely resemble adult males are able to defend a territory and attempt to breed.

Description

• Size: 18-19 cm (7-7 in)
• Wingspan: 32 cm (13 in)
• Weight: 35-49 g (1.24-1.73 ounces)

• Medium-sized, stocky songbird.
• Large, thick, bicolored, cone-shaped bill.
• White flash in wings in flight.
• Male distinctive with black face, orangish chest, belly, nape, and rump.

• Yellow wing linings.
• Upper mandible slate, lower bluish white with dark tip.
• Eyes brown.
• Legs gray.

Sex Differences

Male strikingly colored, with black head, rusty chest, and black-and-white wings. Female streaked brown and white.

Male

Breeding (Alternate) Plumage:Head black (sometimes broken by partial or complete eyestripe of bright cinnamon); wings and tail black with sharply contrasting white spots; breast, rump, nape, and flanks brilliant cinnamon; and a patch of lemon-yellow on belly.
Nonbreeding (Basic) Plumage: similar, but dark feathers tipped with buff, hiding much of plumage pattern.

Female

Head brown with buffy to white (occasionally lemon-yellow) crown and eyestripe, a pale chin, brown wings and tail with indistinct buffy spots, and heavily streaked body plumage that is dull cinnamon to buff with variable amounts of yellow.

Immature

Similar to adult female. First-year males variable, from very female-like to closely resembling adult male.

Similar Species

• Purple Finch female resembles female Black-headed Grosbeak, but is smaller, smaller headed, has a distinct moustache stripe, a dark bill, and lacks white in wings.
• Rose-breasted Grosbeak male is distinctive with red chest, white belly, and black hood, but the female is very similar to female Black-headed Grosbeak. Rose-breasted Grosbeak has darker, thicker, and more extensive streaking on the underparts, especially in center of breast, is more white on head and nape, has buffy yellow rather than lemon-yellow wing linings, and an all pale bill.

Sound

Song a series of rapidly ascending and descending notes separated by brief pauses. Call note a sharp "chink."

»listen to songs of this species

Range

Summer Range

Breeds from southern British Columbia eastward to western North Dakota, central Kansas, and western Texas southward to southern Mexico.

Winter Range

Winters in southern Mexico.

Habitat

Breeds in a variety of deciduous and mixed forest habitats.

Food

Insects, seeds, and fruits.

Behavior

Foraging

Gleans insects from foliage and branches. Will use bird feeders.

Reproduction

Nest Type

A loose, open cup of twigs, plant stems, rootlets, and pine needles, lined with fine stems, rootlets, hair, string, and some green material. Placed in outer branches of small tree or shrub, often near a stream.

Egg Description

Pale greenish blue with reddish brown spotting, heaviest around large end.

Clutch Size

2-5 eggs.

Condition at Hatching

Helpless, with sparse down.

Conservation Status

Common. Populations generally slightly increasing.

Other Names

Cardinal à tête noire (French)
Tigrillo, Frío (Spanish)

Sources used to construct this page:

Hill, G. E. 1995. Black-headed Grosbeak (Pheucticus melanocephalus). In The Birds of North Americaa, No. 143 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, and The American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C.