Is There a Blue Grosbeak in Your Future?

In this season of joy and peace, I'd like to send a warm shout-out to the dear folks in Washington who purport to be our leaders. Yes, Congress and the White House thank you for doing nothing about global warming we all love 60 degree days in New England in December. You guys were right all along!

Another planet warming gift may be the Blue Grosbeak. This bird is a wimpy cousin of the Northern Cardinal. The Cardinal once wasn't so northern; it's invaded New England in my lifetime an early precursor of climate change. As everyone knows the Cardinal is a frequent visitor at bird feeders. Despite the big beak that gives it its name, the Blue Grosbeak prefers bugs. You're not going to find it huddled in your bushes even in a winter as warm as this one because the big beak makes it hard to search for bugs hibernating in cracks in bark-that's Chickadee, Titmouse, and Nuthatch work.

In a normal summer Blue Grosbeaks might make it as far as southern Pennsylvania. Even further south in its main territory its an uncommon inhabitant of brushy land. The bird has been seen in Easton before 2011 since it's included in my Easton bird list probably from a sighting by Dick Grant, an excellent birder. Recently, I bumped into Kevin Ryan an experienced and avid birder; he has traveled to Africa to go bird watching, Kevin noted a Blue Grosbeak sighting at Sheep Pasture in October. I emphasize experienced birders because a male Blue Grosbeak can be confused with other blue birds. Take a look:

Male Blue Grosbeak

Indigo Bunting

Female Bluebird

A recent genetic study shows that the Grosbeak and Bunting were a single species until sometime between 4.1 and 7.3 million years ago (about the last time you and a chimp had a common ancestor). 

OK, so only an intermediate birder like me might confuse the first two with a female bluebird, but deciding between the bunting and the grosbeak is a matter of deciding who has the bigger beak unless you get a good look at the chestnut wing patches of the Grosbeak. The Indigo Bunting is a bird of brushy fields as well and as such has declined as that habitat has disappeared in Massachusetts although the bird can still be found breeding in most towns on mainland Massachusetts.

The diet of the two birds seems similar, insects in the summer, seeds later in the year. The Blue Grosbeak should be able to feed on bigger seeds. One source notes that the grosbeak is able to eat snails which would need a big beak as well. Ironically, one of the observations that put Darwin onto the idea of evolution were differences in the beaks of finches on the Galapagos Islands.

One rose doesn't make a summer and one bird seen late in the summer may have simply gone wandering in a good season for food, but one never knows. Keep your eyes open next late spring and summer and you may get a surprise.