The male Rose-breasted Grosbeak shares incubation duties with the female and is known to even sing while sitting on the nest.
The Rose-breasted Grosbeak is beneficial to farmers, consuming many potato beetles and weed seeds.
Rose-breasted Grosbeaks’ preferred feeder items are sunflower, safflower and peanuts
The Rose-breasted Grosbeak will breed with the Black-headed Grosbeak in areas where their ranges overlap.
Rose-breasted Grosbeaks are known for singing on moonlit nights, sometimes all night, but never very loudly.
The nests of Rose-breasted Grosbeaks are commonly parasitized by the Brown-headed Cowbird, possibly due to the singing done by both the male and female as they construct the nest.
The nests of the Rose-breasted and Black-headed Grosbeaks are so thinly constructed that eggs often can be seen from below through the nest.
The males of both the Rose-breasted and Black-headed Grosbeak share equally in incubating eggs and feeding young, despite having a much showier plumage than their respective females.
The Grosbeak have unusual diets for birds with such a big seed eating beak. Throughout most of the year, over half of their diet is made up of insects. Their huge beaks allows them to eat large grasshoppers, crickets and other insects that have tough exoskeletons.
Evening Grosbeaks like to eat wild cherries, but unlike other birds, they only eat the pits. After removing the fleshy fruit, they crush the slippery seeds with special pads in their “gross beak.”
So favored are cherry pits that Evening Grosbeaks sometimes seek out the pits voided by American Robins.
Evening Grosbeaks can break open seeds that require up to 125 pounds of pressure to crush.
Rose-breasted Grosbeaks’ preferred feeder items are sunflower, safflower and peanuts
Other birds like to eat wild cherries, but only Evening Grosbeaks target the pits. The slippery seeds are held firmly with special pads on the “gross beak” and are simply crushed. So favored are cherry pits that Evening Grosbeaks sometimes seek out the pits voided by American Robins.
Evening Grosbeaks manipulate cherries in their beak to remove the outer skin and flesh, the remaining seed is then swallowed after it is cracked open with their beak.
Evening Grosbeaks can break open food items that require up to 125 pounds of force to fracture apart in testing devices.
As with many finches whose diet is primarily vegetarian, Evening Grosbeaks are attracted to natural salt and mineral sources.
The Evening Grosbeak is an irruptive migrant that makes irregular appearances at winter feeding stations throughout much of United States.
The Evening Grosbeak was not commonly found east of the Rocky Mountains before the 1850’s. Winter irruptions now occur in all of the 48 contiguous states. This expansion may be attributed to widespread planting of box elder trees in landscapes across the east. Its seeds persist on the tree throughout the winter and provided flocks with a reliable source of food.
The Evening Grosbeak was named in 1825 based on erroneous accounts that they became vocal and active only “at the approach of night.” This erroneous belief persisted for years, and the name is still a misnomer.
Evening Grosbeaks seem to delight in snipping off the twigs of Sugar Maple trees and sipping the sweet sap.
