The Evening Grosbeak is a large finch

Finch

The true finches are passerine birds in the family Fringillidae. They are predominantly seed-eating songbirds. Most are native to the Northern Hemisphere, but one subfamily is endemic to the Neotropics, one to the Hawaiian Islands, and one subfamily – monotypic at genus level – is found...

. In the past, it was treated in a genus of its own as Hesperiphona vespertina, but is now usually placed in the same genus as the Hawfinch

Hawfinch

The Hawfinch, Coccothraustes coccothraustes, is a passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae. Its closest living relatives are the Evening Grosbeak from North America and the Hooded Grosbeak from Central America especially Mexico.This bird breeds across Europe and temperate Asia...

 of Eurasia

Eurasia

Eurasia is a continent or supercontinent comprising the traditional continents of Europe and Asia ; covering about 52,990,000 km2 or about 10.6% of the Earth's surface located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres...

.

The breeding habitat is coniferous and mixed forest across Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 and the western mountainous areas of the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

. It is an extremely rare vagrant to the British Isles

British Isles

The British Isles are a group of islands off the northwest coast of continental Europe that include the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and over six thousand smaller isles. There are two sovereign states located on the islands: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and...

, with just two records so far. The nest is built on a horizontal branch or in a fork of a tree.

The migration

Bird migration

Bird migration is the regular seasonal journey undertaken by many species of birds. Bird movements include those made in response to changes in food availability, habitat or weather. Sometimes, journeys are not termed "true migration" because they are irregular or in only one direction...

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

The Evening Grosbeak is 18.5 centimetres (7.3 in) long. 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.

These birds forage in trees and bushes, sometimes on the ground. They mainly eat seeds, berries and insects. Outside of the nesting season

Nesting season

The nesting season is the time of year during which birds and some other animals, particularly some reptiles, build nests, lay eggs in them, and in most cases bring up their young. It is usually in the spring....

 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.

Book

Gillihan, S. W., and B. Byers. 2001. Evening Grosbeak (Coccothraustes verspertinus). In The Birds of North America, No. 599 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA.

Thesis

• Prescott DRC. Ph.D. (1992). Differential migration in the evening grosbeak (Coccothraustes vespertinus): A test of hypotheses. University of Calgary (Canada), Canada.

Articles

• Bekoff M. (1995). Cognitive ethology, vigilance, information gathering, and representation: Who might know what and why?. Behavioural Processes. vol 35, no 1-3. pp. 225–237.
• Bekoff M. (1995). Vigilance, Flock Size, and Flock Geometry: Information Gathering by Western Evening Grosbeaks (Aves, Fringillidae). Ethology. vol 99, no 2. pp. 150–161.
• Bekoff M, Scott AC & Conner DA. (1987). Nonrandom Nest-Site Selection in Evening Grosbeaks. Condor. vol 89, no 4. pp. 819–829.
• Bekoff M, Scott AC & Conner DA. (1989). Ecological Analyses of Nesting Success in Evening Grosbeaks. Oecologia
  Oecologia
  Oecologia is an international peer-reviewed English-language journal published by Springer. The journal publishes original research in a range of topics related to plant and animal ecology....
  
  . vol 81, no 1. pp. 67–74.
• Bennetts RE & Hutto RL. (1985). Attraction of Social Fringillids to Mineral Salts an Experimental Study. Journal of Field Ornithology. vol 56, no 2. pp. 187–189.
• Brunswig NL, Winton SG & Hamel PB. (1983). A Dietary Overlap of Evening Grosbeaks Coccothraustes-Vespertinus and Carolina Parakeets Conuropsis-Carolinensis. Wilson Bulletin. vol 95, no 3.
• Cumming EE & Diamond AW. (2002). Songbird community composition versus forest rotation age in Saskatchewan boreal mixedwood forest. Canadian Field Naturalist. vol 116, no 1. pp. 69–75.
• Daoust PY, Busby DG, Ferns L, Goltz J, McBurney S, Poppe C & Whitney H. (2000). Salmonellosis in songbirds in the Canadian Atlantic provinces during winter-summer 1997-98. Canadian Veterinary Journal-Revue Veterinaire Canadienne. vol 41, no 1. pp. 54–59.
• Dean J. (1985). An Extraordinary Evening Grosbeak. Ontario Bird Banding. vol 17, no 17.
• Desser SS. (1980). An Ultrastructural Study of the Asexual Development of a Presumed Isospora-Sp in Mononuclear Phagocytic Cells of the Evening Grosbeak Hesperiphona-Vespertina. Journal of Parasitology. vol 66, no 4. pp. 601–612.
• Fee BA & Bekoff M. (1986). Polygyny in the Evening Grosbeak. Wilson Bulletin. vol 98, no 2. pp. 308–308.
• Garrison BA, Triggs ML & Wachs RL. (2005). Short-term effects of group-selection timber harvest on landbirds in montane hardwood-conifer habitat in the central Sierra Nevada. Journal of Field Ornithology. vol 76, no 1. pp. 72–82.
• Gilbert FF & Allwine R. (1991). Spring Bird Communities in the Oregon Cascade Range USA. U S Forest Service General Technical Report PNW. vol 285, pp. 145–159.
• Gillihan SW & Byers B. (2001). Evening Grosbeak: Coccothraustes vespertinus. Birds of North America. vol 599, pp. 1–23.
• Hagar JC, McComb WC & Emmingham WH. (1996). Bird communities in commercially thinned and unthinned Douglas-fir stands of western Oregon. Wildlife Society Bulletin. vol 24, no 2. pp. 353–366.
• Hahn TP, Kelsey TR & Pereyra ME. (2001). Geographic variation in flight calls of a nomadic cardueline finch, the evening grosbeak (Coccothraustes vespertinus). American Zoologist. vol 41, no 6. pp. 1462–1463.
• Hayes JP, Weikel JM & Huso MMP. (2003). Response of birds to thinning young Douglas-fir forests. Ecological Applications. vol 13, no 5. pp. 1222–1232.
• Helleiner CW. (1979). Xanthochroism in the Evening Grosbeak. Canadian Field Naturalist. vol 93, no 1. pp. 66–67.
• Hudon J. (1997). Non-melanic schizochroism in Alberta Evening Grosbeaks, Coccothraustes vespertinus. Canadian Field Naturalist. vol 111, no 4. pp. 652–654.
• Kinch B. (2006). Northern Shrike preys on Pine Grosbeak. Ontario Birds. vol 24, no 3. pp. 160–161.
• Koenig WD & Knops JMH. (2001). Seed-crop size and eruptions of North American boreal seed-eating birds. Journal of Animal Ecology. vol 70, no 4. pp. 609–620.
• Langelier LA & Garton EO. (1986). Management Guidelines for Increasing Populations of Birds That Feed on Western Spruce Budworm. U S Department of Agriculture – Agriculture Handbook. vol 653, pp. 1–19.
• LeBaron GS. (2000). The one-hundred first Christmas Bird Count. American Birds. vol 101, pp. 6–12.
• Levine ND. (1982). The Genus Atoxoplasma Protozoa Apicomplexa. Journal of Parasitology. vol 68, no 4. pp. 719–723.
• Manuwal DA. (1991). Spring Bird Communities in the Southern Washington Cascade Range USA. U S Forest Service General Technical Report PNW. vol 285, pp. 161–175.
• McGraw KJ, Beebee MD, Hill GE & Parker RS. (2003). Lutein-based plumage coloration in songbirds is a consequence of selective pigment incorporation into feathers. Comparative Biochemistry & Physiology Part B Biochemistry & Molecular Biology 135B. vol 4, pp. 689–696.
• McGraw KJ, Hudon J, Hill GE & Parker RS. (2005). A simple and inexpensive chemical test for behavioral ecologists to determine the presence of carotenoid pigments in animal tissues. Behavioral Ecology & Sociobiology. vol 57, no 4. pp. 391–397.
• Mikaelian I, Ley DH, Claveau R, Lemieux M & Berube J-P. (2001). Mycoplasmosis in evening and pine grosbeaks with conjunctivitis in Quebec. Journal of Wildlife Diseases. vol 37, no 4. pp. 826–830.
• Mindell DP & Sites JWJ. (1987). Tissue Expression Patterns of Avian Isozymes a Preliminary Study of Phylogenetic Applications. Systematic Zoology. vol 36, no 2. pp. 137–152.
• O'Hara PD, Fernandez G, Haase B, de la Cueva H & Lank DB. (2006). Differential migration in Western Sandpipers with respect to body size and wing length. Condor. vol 108, no 1. pp. 225–232.
• Prescott DRC. (1991). Winter Distribution of Age and Sex Classes in an Irruptive Migrant the Evening Grosbeak Coccothraustes-Vespertinus. Condor. vol 93, no 3. pp. 694–700.
• Prescott DRC. (1994). Intraspecific and geographical trends in body size of a differential migrant, the Evening Grosbeak. Auk. vol 111, no 3. pp. 693–702.
• Scott AC & Bekoff M. (1991). Breeding Behavior of Evening Grosbeaks. Condor. vol 93, no 1. pp. 71–81.
• Sewall K, Kelsey R & Hahn TP. (2004). Discrete variants of Evening Grosbeak flight calls. Condor. vol 106, no 1. pp. 161–165.
• Svingen D & Rogers TH. (1994). Winter Season: Idaho/Western Montana Region. National Audubon Society Field Notes. vol 48, no 3. pp. 320–322.
• Takekawa JY & Garton EO. (1984). How much is an evening Grosbeak worth. Journal of Forestry. vol 82, no 7. pp. 426–428.
• Van Scheik WJ. (1994). Burrowing mites that pester birds. Blue Jay. vol 52, no 4. pp. 204–205.
• Wilson WH, Jr. (1995). The distribution of wintering birds in central Maine: The interactive effects of landscape and bird feeders. Journal of Field Ornithology. vol 65, no 4. pp. 512–519.
• Zach R & Mayoh KR. (1985). Gamma-Radiation-Induced Spatial Avoidance in Birds. Radiation Research. vol 104, no 1. pp. 66–70.

External links

• Cornell – All About Birds Evening Grosbeak Information
• South Dakota Birds and Birding Evening Grosbeak Information and Photographs
• USGS Bird Identification Infocenter Evening Grosbeak