How to Identify aBlack-headed Grosbeak
Pheucticus melanocephalus · 7.1–7.5 in (18–19 cm)
Male vs. female
Male
Black head, black wings with bold white patches, and warm cinnamon-orange collar, chest and rump.
Female
Warm brown and streaked with a bold white eyebrow and buff underparts, much like a female Rose-breasted Grosbeak.
Male photo: Alan Vernon / Wikimedia, CC BY 2.0 · Female photo: Peter Wallack / Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 3.0
Field marks
- Massive pale bill, dark above and pale below
- Cinnamon-orange underparts on the male
- Bold white wing patches
- Lemon-yellow wing linings visible in flight
Similar species
What it sounds like
A rich rising and falling warble like a robin in a hurry, and a sharp squeaky "eek" call.
Behaviour that gives it away
One of very few birds that eats monarch butterflies, tolerating the toxins that deter almost everything else.
Habitat & range
Open woodland, streamside groves, oak canyons and gardens across the West.
When you'll see it
A summer visitor that arrives to breed in western and southwestern North America.
What it eats
Seeds, insects, berries and fruit.
Did you know?
It is one of the few predators able to eat monarch butterflies, feeding on them in large numbers at their Mexican wintering sites.
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