Evening Grosbeak are not quite as large as American Robins but they are big in bold colors, big in the numbers that often come to feeders and big in the sound that a flock can make. Their bright yellow (looks gold to me) and black plumage worn by males is highlighted with white patches which are also found on the more muted coloration of plumage on females (as shown in the photo below).
Though a good sized flock of these pretty large feeder birds can go through a lot of seed, every post I have seen about them shows that they are still welcome and missed when they wander away for weeks, months and sometimes years. These large members of the finch family nest in conifer forests in the western U.S. and north into Canada.
Though Evening Grosbeak, like their smaller finch cousins the House Finch, love black oil sunflower seeds I found they learned to eat the safflower seeds I put out because the squirrels in my yard also loved the former but have not developed a taste for the latter (be aware I have heard others complain that their squirrels like safflower seeds).
EveningGrosbeak at my safflower seed feeder-©SeEttaMoss
Evening Grosbeak are too big to balance well on feeders so they prefer a tray or platform type feeder as shown on the right. I was fortunate for two years as there are conifer forests less than 10 miles from my home so they would leave to nest for two months then return with their young that they brought to my feeders.
Below is a photo of one of the fledgling Evening Grosbeak at my feeder. What was really funny was to see these full sized young birds perched in the tray feeder with an adult and the adult would pick up seeds and feed them.
Male birds of a number of species are very involved in helping to raise the young. In the photo on the left a male Evening Grosbeak is shown putting a seed into the open beak of a fledgling. Aren’t birds fun!
I enjoy finding and photographing Evening Grosbeak both in my backyard and in the field.
Have you ever seen Evening Grosbeak?
Have you ever had Evening Grosbeak at your feeders? If so, where do you live?
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
The Evening Grosbeak is the American Birding Association Bird of the Year for 2012. Thanks for sharing more about this awesome species!
Hi Robert-I agree that the Evening Grosbeak is an awesome species. It is great in the field as it is easily identified and more easily found than many birds since it is usually in a noisy flock. It is also a great feeder bird–again easily identified and lots of fun to watch them eat.
We have a cabin in Northern Michigan (Cadillac area) and a few years ago we had a flock of about a dozen Evening Grosbeaks come to our feeder. This was in November and they are a beautiful bird. We didn’t know what they were and had to look them up in the book we always keep handy. We smile at the males yellow eye patch which looks like a University of Michigan football helmet. We don’t see them often but every once in a while they will visit in the winter and entertain us while they are there.