![\"\"](\"http:\/\/web.colby.edu\/mainebirds\/files\/2012\/11\/Evening-Grosbeak.jpg\")
<\/a>These robust, colorful birds add welcome color to the muted fall and winter landscapes in Maine.\u00a0 The males with their yellow bodies, brown heads with yellow eyebrows and a large patch of white on each black wing, are stunning.\u00a0 The understated females, with tones of bluish-gray on their body and a large white patch on each black wing, have a beauty of their own. Evening Grosbeaks are conspicuous, usually announcing their presence with metallic \u201ccleep\u201d notes, reminiscent of a House Sparrow\u2019s call. They love sunflower seeds so keep your feeders stocked.<\/p>\nThe scientific name of this finch is Coccothraustes<\/em> vespertinus<\/em>.\u00a0 The genus name “Coccothraustes<\/em> ” means “kernel breaker”, certainly appropriate for this bird with a stout, conical beak.\u00a0 The species name “vespertinus<\/em>”\u00a0 refers to “evening”, a puzzling claim since these birds are active all day long as anyone lucky enough to have them at a feeder can attest!<\/p>\n The evening reference comes from observations made by a Major Delafield, a United States boundary agent in 1823:<\/p>\n \u00a0“At twilight, the bird which I had before heard to cry in a singular strain, and only at his hour, made its appearance close by my tent, and a flock of about half a dozen perched on the bushes in my encampment . . .. My inference was then, and is now, that this bird dwells in such dark retreats, and leaves them at the approach of night”.<\/p>\n \u00a0Obviously, Delafield was not a very good field naturalist!\u00a0 We know that Evening Grosbeak go to roost around dusk like any self-respecting perching bird.\u00a0 Nevertheless, Delafield\u2019s observations were taken seriously by subsequent scientists who dubbed Coccothraustes<\/em> vespertinus<\/em> the Evening Grosbeak.\u00a0\u00a0 I think Evening Grosbeak is the most inaccurate common name of any North American bird, beating out Ring-necked Duck.<\/p>\n Evening Grosbeaks are relatively recent arrivals in Maine.\u00a0 The great Massachusetts ornithologist, Edward Forbush, claims that until the winter of 1889-1890, Evening Grosbeaks were virtually unknown east of Ohio.\u00a0 During that winter, an eastward invasion brought these birds into Massachusetts, nearly as far east as Boston.<\/p>\n A second large invasion came in 1910-1911, leading to the gradual establishment of Evening Grosbeaks as breeding birds in southeastern Canada and northeastern United States.<\/p>\n Some have suggested that the immigration of Evening Grosbeaks into the east was facilitated by the spread of box elder (Acer<\/em> negundo<\/em>) trees.\u00a0 The seeds and buds of box elders are highly favored by Evening Grosbeaks.\u00a0 The planting of these trees as ornamentals may have permitted the invasion of Evening Grosbeaks to Maine.<\/p>\n Evening Grosbeaks nest throughout the state of Maine, but their numbers vary erratically from year to year and from place to place.\u00a0 Winter numbers rise as individuals from more northerly populations come into Maine and further south in numbers that vary widely from year to year.<\/p>\n Highly gregarious outside of the breeding season, Evening Grosbeaks have a hierarchical social system where males (which are larger) are dominant to the smaller females.\u00a0 These interactions can be easily seen at a feeder.\u00a0 Research by David Prescott showed that female Evening Grosbeaks tend to migrate further south than the males.\u00a0 Prescott proposed two reasons to explain this differential migration.\u00a0 First, the subordinate females may be forced further south because of the dominant males.\u00a0 Alternatively, the larger males may better able to withstand cold temperatures. \u00a0In any case, count the number of male and female Evening Grosbeaks this winter.\u00a0 If Prescott’s pattern holds true, you should see a predominance of gaudy males here in Maine.<\/p>\n [First published on November 11, 2012]<\/p>\n\n Evening Grosbeaks, one of the most enigmatic and erratic of our winter finches, have been appearing across Maine this fall.\u00a0 We had a dozen of these beauties at our sunflower feeders in China a couple of weeks ago.\u00a0 Maybe these birds are harbingers of a much-anticipated irruption into New England. These robust, colorful birds add […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":146,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/mainebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/mainebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/mainebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/mainebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/146"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/mainebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=539"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/mainebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":542,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/mainebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539\/revisions\/542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/mainebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/mainebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/mainebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}