#Pheucticus melanocephalus

[na-bird-of-the-day]

BOTD: Black-headed Grosbeak

Photo: Jerry McFarland

"In foothills and riverside woods of the West, this species is often very common as a nesting bird. In mid-summer, the oak woodlands often resound with the insistent whining whistle of young Black-headed Grosbeaks begging for food. This is among few birds able to eat Monarch butterflies, despite the noxious chemicals those insects contain from eating milkweeds in the larval stage; in Mexico in winter, the grosbeaks eat large numbers of Monarchs."

- Audubon Field Guide

[fatchance]

Recent birds: Black-headed grosbeak / picogordo tigrillo (Pheucticus melanocephalus), at Santa Rita Lodge, Madera Canyon, Santa Cruz County, Arizona.

The Spanish name is a delight – picogordo meaning stout-beaked, and tigrillo meaning ocelot for the birds' colors and markings.

[have-you-seen-this-animal]

[alonglistofbirds]

[1174/10977] Black-headed Grosbeak - Pheucticus melanocephalus

Order: Passeriformes Suborder: Passeri Superfamily: Emberizoidea Family: Cardinalidae (cardinal-grosbeaks)

Photo credit: Jim Merritt via Macaulay Library

[wildmountainlight]

lazuli buntings (passerina amoena) and black-headed grosbeak (pheucticus melanocephalus) - may 2023

[wingedjewels]

male Black-headed Grosbeak, yardbirds #2 by Greatblue1 Via Flickr: rare yard visitor, Richmond, B.C.

[scottpartridge]

Black-Headed Grosbeak, Pheucticus melanocephalus

[thelostcanyon]

Black-headed Grosbeak (Pheucticus melanocephalus), Davis Mountains State Park, Texas.

[uwmspeccoll]

A Grosbeak Feathursday

We continue our tour of the Cardinalidae we began last week with the Grosbeaks! While the eponymous bird of this family, the Northern Cardinal, is not technically a grosbeak, we think that beautiful beak of theirs qualifies for inclusion here. These images are once again from Rex Brasher’s massive, limited-edition, 12-volume set Birds and Trees of North America, self-published in Kent, Connecticut, between 1929 and 1932, containing thousands of hand-colored reproductions of Brasher’s paintings. 

Besides the plate of the Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) (both detail and full print), our other grosbeaks, from top to bottom, are:

Pyrrhuloxia (Cardinalis sinuatus) Rose-breasted Grosbeak (Pheucticus ludovicianus) Black-headed Grosbeak (Pheucticus melanocephalus) Blue Grosbeak (Passerina caerulea)

Some of you might ask, “where’s the Evening Grosbeak (Hesperiphona vespertina)?” The Evening Grosbeak is actually not in the Cardinal family, it’s really a finch (Fringillidae). Even among the birds shown here, only the Rose-breasted and Black-headed are true grosbeaks; the Northern Cardinal and Pyrrhuloxia are cardinals and the Blue Grosbeak is a bunting. All, however, are in the family Cardinalidae.

In his idiosyncratic style, Rex Brasher begins his section on Cardinalidae with an original poem about his first encounter with the Cardinal:

Gray sky and grayer woodland, Night was nearly here. Not a sound from frozen fairies, Nor the step of deer.

Then -- Redbirds from the dark Entry of a tree! Lit in hemlocks near me And whistled merrily.

Find out more about Rex Brasher’s work, and/or view other posts from this set.

View more Feathursday posts

[fatchance]

Recent birds: Black-headed grosbeak / picogordo tigrillo (Pheucticus melanocephalus). 

At Ash Canyon Bird Sanctuary, Cochise County, Arizona. 

[nunoxaviermoreira]

Black-headed Grosbeak -- Male (Pheucticus melanocephalus); Santa Fe National Forest, NM, Thompson Ridge [Lou Feltz] by deserttoad With a head this solid black, this guy has to be an adult male. Pretty soon both of our species of Grosbeaks will be bringing their young to the feeders. It's funny to watch... the young will be sitting on piles of (squirrel) scattered seed and begging their parents (both sexes feed) to pick it up and place it in their gaping mouths! They're still unclear of the concept of self reliance. IMG_6775; Black-headed Grosbeak https://flic.kr/p/2gv49iM

[jacksaperture]

In case you thought "bird lover" was some kind of euphemism

Haven't been around for a while. Liv's been busy, and I've been...what's the polite word for it?

Oh, yeah.

A basket-case.

Oh, I doubt either of those are changing any time soon, but I felt it necessary to come along and post some less-than-stellar pictures I've managed to take on a recent trip to the mountains.

So, without further ado.

Male Black-headed Grosbeak (Pheucticus melanocephalus). Took me four days of waiting by a feeder to finally get this guy. Every time I'd see him, my camera wasn't immediately available.

....

Mountain Chickadee (Poecile gambeli). This one was much easier. He was practically posing for the camera!

....

Male Purple Finches (Haemorhous purpureus). I wasn't too familiar with these guys. It took some work to positively ID them. They have really heavy wingbeats for such tiny birds.

....

Mostly Incense Cedars (Calcedrus decurrens), with some White Fir (Abies concolor) and a few unidentified shrubs. I feel like some rebels and scout troopers are about to fly past me on speeder bikes.

Wrong forest and mountain range for that, though.

....

Similar to the last picture, only here we've also got some California Black Oak (Quercus kellogii).

....

Here we see my inability to overcome certain equipment limitations.

But, dark, scary, primordial woods aside, a lovely carpet of Bracken Fern (Pteridium aquilinum) is always inviting.

....

And now, something sweet. And a little tart. Sierra Gooseberry (Ribes roezlii) with some kind of pine that I couldn't even begin to attempt to ID at this size.

..........

Well, that's it for this excursion into the Mixed Conifer belt of the Western slope of the Sierra Nevada mountains of California.

At least for now.

I have a lot more pictures that I may post once I get a chance to dig through them, (hopefully) including some female Purple Finches and Black-headed Grosbeaks, some Dark-eyed Juncos, Mountain Quails, Hummingbirds, and (if all goes well) one vibrant and lively little Yellow Warbler.

'Til then.

Please note: Some of these binomials may be out of date. Taxonomy is always updating, and I've been out of the game for a bit. Have mercy.

[wildmountainlight]

black-headed grosbeak (pheucticus melanocephalus) - may 2022

[douglaswelch]

Female Black-Headed Grosbeak (Pheucticus melanocephalus) – 4 in a series [Video] (1:00)

[hannahcrazyhawk]

A beautiful female Black-headed Grosbeak at my feeder! Pheucticus melanocephalus #blackheadedgrosbeak #bird #finch #birdfeeder #wildbirdsunlimited #nikon #female #wildlife #bohemian #nomessbirdseed #fly #cute #boho #nature #picoftheday (at Bend, Oregon)

[thelostcanyon]

Black-headed Grosbeak (Pheucticus melanocephalus), Mt. Lemmon, Santa Catalina Mountains, Arizona.