Typically, only one brood is raised, although at times if a brood is lost, a second nesting attempt follows. Both male and female Rose-breasted Grosbeaks share incubation, brooding, and feeding duties at the nest. These are laid in an open-cup nest made of twigs, grasses, stalks, stems, and dead leaves and lined with finer materials including hair. There, the female lays one to five, but most often four, greenish blue, rusty-spotted eggs. Rose-breasted Grosbeaks usually nest in deciduous trees and sometimes high up in large shrubs. Typically, the grosbeak remains hidden in the foliage, only grudgingly coming into plain view for birders. It is rarely seen low down, unless visiting a bird bath, stream, or, on occasion, a bird feeder. Wherever it roams, the Rose-breasted Grosbeak seeks the shelter and bounty of leafy tree canopies. You might think a small songbird might not live long, but one wild Rose-breasted Grosbeak was 12 years old (as recorded after recovery by banders), while a captive individual apparently lived twice that long. Clutch PerformersĪ fairly common denizen of the deciduous woodlands of northern North America, the Rose-breasted Grosbeak retreats to the tropics in winter, where it is often found in flocks feeding on fruiting trees such as the Gumbo-Limbo. Male Rose-breasted and Black-headed Grosbeaks, on the other hand, are entirely different colors, save for their wing patterns and black heads. The female, on the other hand, resembles a large female Purple Finch - brown-backed and streaky - as does the female of its western “cousin” the Black-headed Grosbeak. In flight, splashes of white flash on wings and tail. One of North America's most distinctive songbirds, the male is a study in contrasts, with a jet-black head, back, and wings, white belly and rump, and of course the triangular red breast patch. Like such species as the Bobolink and Summer Tanager, the Rose-breasted Grosbeak exhibits strong sexual dimorphism - the male and female sport very different plumages. The name “grosbeak” comes from the French term grosbec, meaning “large beak”- an obvious attribute of this bird, the Black-headed Grosbeak, and others, including the closely related Northern Cardinal. But it has a gruesome folk name: “cut-throat,” owing to the red swatch across its breast. The male Rose-breasted Grosbeak is strikingly beautiful.
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