Evening grosbeak

Evening grosbeak
Male evening grosbeak in Cap Tourmente National Wildlife Area, Quebec
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Fringillidae
Subfamily: Carduelinae
Genus: Hesperiphona
Bonaparte, 1850
Species: H. vespertina
Binomial name
Hesperiphona vespertina
(W. Cooper, 1825)
Range of H. vespertina      Year-round range     Wintering range
Synonyms

Coccothraustes vespertinus

The evening grosbeak (Hesperiphona vespertina) is a passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae found in North America.

Description

The evening grosbeak is similar in appearance to the Eurasian hawfinch, both being bulky, heavily built finches with large bills and short tails. The evening grosbeak ranges in length from 16 to 22 cm (6.3 to 8.7 in) and spans 30 to 36 cm (12 to 14 in) across the wings.[2][3] In a large sampling of grosbeaks in Pennsylvania during winter, males weighed from 38.7 to 86.1 g (1.37 to 3.04 oz), with an average of 60 g (2.1 oz), while females weighed from 43.2 to 73.5 g (1.52 to 2.59 oz), with an average of 58.7 g (2.07 oz).[4] Among standard measurements, the wing chord is 10.45 to 11.6 cm (4.11 to 4.57 in), the tail is 6 to 6.95 cm (2.36 to 2.74 in), the bill is 1.6 to 2 cm (0.63 to 0.79 in) and the tarsus is 1.95 to 2.2 cm (0.77 to 0.87 in).[5] The adult has a short black tail, black wings and a large pale bill. The adult male has a bright yellow forehead and body; its head is brown and there is a large white patch in the wing. The adult female is mainly olive-brown, greyer on the underparts and with white patches in the wings.

Breeding and ecology

The breeding habitat is coniferous and mixed forest across Canada and the western mountainous areas of the United States and Mexico. It is an extremely rare vagrant to the British Isles, with just two records so far. The nest is built on a horizontal branch or in a fork of a tree.

The migration of this bird is variable; in some winters, it may wander as far south as the southern U.S.

These birds forage in trees and bushes, sometimes on the ground. They mainly eat seeds, berries, and insects. Outside of the nesting season they often feed in flocks. Sometimes, they will swallow fine gravel.

The range of this bird has expanded far to the east in historical times, possibly due to plantings of Manitoba maples and other maples and shrubs around farms and the availability of bird feeders in winter.

Taxonomy

The International Ornithologists' Union places the evening grosbeak in the genus Hesperiphona.[6] The species together with the hooded grosbeak are sometimes placed together with the hawfinch in the genus Coccothraustes.[7] The name of the genus Hesperiphona was introduced by Charles Lucien Bonaparte in 1850.[8]

Gallery


References

  1. ↑ BirdLife International (2012). "Coccothraustes vespertinus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
  2. ↑ "Evening grosbeak". All About Birds. Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
  3. ↑ "Evening grosbeak". Guide to North American Birds. National Audubon Society.
  4. ↑ Dunning, John B., Jr., ed. (1992). CRC Handbook of Avian Body Masses. CRC Press. ISBN 978-0-8493-4258-5.
  5. ↑ Clement, Peter (1999). Finches and Sparrows. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0691048789.
  6. ↑ Gill, Frank; Donsker, David (eds.). "Finches, euphonias". World Bird List Version 5.2. International Ornithologists' Union. doi:10.14344/IOC.ML.5.2. Retrieved 5 June 2015.
  7. ↑ Clements, J.F.; Schulenberg, T.S.; Iliff, M.J.; Roberson, D.; Fredericks, T.A.; Sullivan, B.L.; Wood, C.L. (2014). "eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: Version 6.9". The Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
  8. ↑ Bonaparte, Charles Lucien. "Sur plusieurs genres nouveaux de Passereaux" [On several new genera of Passerines]. Comptes rendus hebdomadaires des séances de l'Académie des sciences (in French) 31: 424.

External links

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