Rose-breasted Grosbeak

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iRose-breasted Grosbeak

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Cardinalidae
Genus:	Pheucticus
Species:	P. ludovicianus

Binomial name

Pheucticus ludovicianus
(Linnaeus, 1766)

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.

[edit] References

BirdLife International (2004). Pheucticus ludovicianus. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 10 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
Hilty, Birds of Venezuela, ISBN 0-7136-6418-5
Stiles and Skutch, A guide to the birds of Costa Rica ISBN 0-08-149600-4