GBirds reader Linda nabbed these great shots of a male rose-breasted grosbeak at her feeder near Guilford College in Greensboro. These birds make their way through our area in the fall and spring. They winter in southern Mexico, Central American, northern South America, and the Caribbean. Summer finds them in the higher elevations of the Appalachians (south to Georgia), up to the northeast and midwest and into the central part of Canada.
The female rose-breasted grosbeak looks kind of like a large female purple finch: streaky dull brown with a darker brown “mask”—nowhere near as striking as the male. Josh saw Linda’s photos and realized that what he thought was a weird-looking towhee in the yard a few days back was actually a rose-breasted grosbeak.
Have you taken any photos of spring migrants that you’d like to share? Send them to greensborobirds@gmail.com and I’ll be happy to post them!
So funny–when I first began birding, I was up in Michigan at the beginning of August. Pretty excellent for the beginning of fall migration, believe it or not. My sister said to me as I went out the door, “Stew, see a rose-breasted grosbeak for me, OK?” I think she was just thinking of the craziest bird she could imagine. The RBG I saw that day was the only one I’ve ever seen.
This summer I’m hoping to get the Kirtland’s.