Pine Grosbeak
Pine Grosbeak: Large, robust finch with red-washed black back, gray sides and undertail coverts, and pink-red rump and underparts. Head and face are pink-red; bill is heavy and black. Wings are black with two pale bars. Tail is black and slightly notched. Feeds on seeds, buds, fruits and insects.
● Song:
"teu, teu, teu"
● Foraging & Feeding:
Pine Grosbeak: Feeds on seeds, buds, fruits, and insects; favorites include crabapple, bittersweet, barberry, and mountain ash fruit, and birch, pine, and spruce seeds; forages in trees and on the ground.
● Breeding & nesting:
Pine Grosbeak: Two to five blue green eggs with black, purple, and brown spots are laid in a bulky nest made of twigs, weeds, and rootlets, lined with hair, soft grass, moss, and lichens, and built low in a conifer, usually no more than 10 to 12 feet above the ground. Incubation ranges from 13 to 15 days and is carried out by the female.
● Similar species:
Pine Grosbeak: Other grosbeaks and finches are smaller, have shorter tails, and different calls. White-winged Crossbill is smaller and has distinct white patches on wings. Red Crossbill is smaller and has forked tail.