The Rose-breasted Grosbeak

By Al Lowe
Contributor

This is one of the most striking birds we have in Ontario. It is well worth looking for.
The fully developed male has a combination of jet black and pure white on most of its body. But its breast and the undersides of its wings are a deep rosy red. The hen bird doesn't look like the male at all. She is all brown buff - nicely marked and quite pretty, but with none of the splendid marks of the male.
These grosbeaks are fond of open woodland. In the wilderness, they would favour the edges of beaver meadows or the new growth of burnt over forests. In civilization, they look for open areas with trees or bushes handy.
The Rose-breasted Grosbeak has more going for it than just good looks. It is also a very good song bird. Its song is something like that of a robin but somewhat sweeter in tone and less monotonous. They can sing with no interruptions while they are flying.
These birds are not early arrivals in the north. They come about the middle of May, and leave about mid-September. So they are only here about four or five months, long enough to build a nest, raise a brood, and leave. When you see them flying, they don't look much like long-distance flyers, but they are. Most of them spend the winter in South America or Central America, at the most northerly. That is quite a journey twice a year for a bird which weighs only a few ounces.
The name grosbeak derives from its very large bill. It has extremely sharp cutting edges, and it is shaped just right for the crushing of seeds. Seeds of all kinds from the major part of its diet, but it also goes in for insects, grubs and some fruit as the occasion arises.
Everything about the Rose-breasted Grosbeak isn't wonderful. It builds a very poor nest. About five feet or so from the ground, it is a clumsy and fragile affair of twigs and grass. However, you can't have everything and young grosbeaks do appear to survive.
This bird, like many others, moults twice a year. That means that the adult male is only in his really fine feathers for the spring and summer. This is called his 'nuptial' plumage. In the fall, he will acquire quite a lot of dull brown on the feathers of most of his body, so that he will resemble a large, dark sparrow. Even the rose colour will be largely obscured by dull plumage. Young male birds, incidentally, don't get their full fine feathers until their second or even third year.
The Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Pheuticus ludoviciansus, is one of the most beautiful songbirds in most of Ontario. Look for it in farming areas. You won't find it in the evergreen woods at all.