Pine Grosbeak
The Pine Grosbeak (Pinicola enucleator) is a large finch found in the northern parts of North America, Europe, and Asia. Its habitat consists of boreal and subartic forests, along with conifer forests in the western U.S. mountains and the coastal rain forests of British Columbia and Alaska. It is one of 227 species worldwide in the family Fringillidae (Finches, Euphonias, and Allies), and the only species in the genus Pincola, although 9 subspecies have been recognized. A subspecies is a group with different characteristics or traits, often isolated geographically. Over time, some of these subspecies may become differentiated enough to be designated as a full species. Bird watchers who keep track of subspecies can add a new species to their life list without any extra effort should the American Ornithological Union or other scientific bodies decide that the subspecies should be recognized as a separate species.
So back to the Pine Grosbeak. I’ve seen it a couple of times, but only recorded it in my bird list records once. It was on April 20, 2008, in the lower Poudre Canyon in the east part of Roosevelt National Forest in Colorado. I was on a five-month work assignment at the U.S. Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station headquartered in Fort Collins. On weekends, I was able to spend some time exploring the area, including Poudre Canyon to the northwest, Rocky Mountain National Park to the southwest, and grassland areas to the east. When I wasn’t doing that, I was enjoying all that Fort Collins had to offer, including the micro-breweries located there (e.g., New Belgium, CooperSmith’s, and Odell; many more have opened up since I was there).
Once more, back to the Pine Grosbeak.
What it looks like
Pine Grosbeaks are aptly named, from the French grosbec (gros as in large and bec as in beak). As the picture shows, they have large beaks that are well designed to nip buds off of conifers and crush seeds that comprise most of their diet. The adult female (shown here) along with first-year birds of both sexes have yellowish to bronze heads, breasts, sides, and rumps. The rest of their plumage is gray, except for distinctive white wing bars.
The male has a raspberry-red colored head, breast, sides, back, and rump with blackish-brown flight feathers. They also have two white wing bars. Pine Grosbeaks are seasonally monogamous, pairing up while still in flocks. The female alone builds the nest and incubates the eggs, but both parents feed the young after hatching. While adult Pine Grosbeaks diet is exclusively vegetable matter, they capture insects such as crane flies, grasshoppers, caterpillars, aphids, and spiders to feed their young.
Other species
The unique bill and coloration make it hard to confuse Pine Grosbeaks with other species. However, in working on this posting, I discovered another picture that I took in the same location as the Pine Grosbeaks but hadn’t properly labeled in my photo catalog. Pictured here is the Brown-capped Rosy Finch (Leucosticte australis). This bird’s range is limited to high altitudes in the western half of Colorado and extending south into the north central parts of New Mexico as far as Santa Fe. I did not identify the bird at that time, but did so based on this photo. So I added another bird to my life list – which now stands at 497 for bird species observed and identified in North America and 573 worldwide. Only about 9,400 species to go!
Okay, this isn’t a bird. But I thought I’d show another sight from the same outing that day. A couple of moose were spending a lazy Sunday afternoon behind a government outbuilding near a satellite dish. I’m guessing that the dish was used for internet connectivity, since this area was off the beaten path.
That’s it for this week. If you missed last week click here to read about the Bewick’s Wren.
Next week I’ll write about the Common Grackle.